COVID-19 vaccine under development in Sask. could be used as booster dose

A Saskatoon-made COVID-19 vaccine could be available to the general public next year, VIDO-InterVac CEO Volker Gerdts said.

The vaccine's Phase 1 trial, conducted in Halifax at Dalhousie University and at the University of Saskatchewan, showed the vaccine was safe and effective, including against the Delta variant, he said. The vaccine is now being tested against the Omicron variant.

Early in the new year, VIDO-InterVac will start a trial in Canada using its vaccine as a booster to vaccines that have already been authorized. It will also conduct a trial in Uganda looking at making it available to low and middle income countries - so that African countries can manufacture it locally for their residents.

The vaccine is using the proven protein subunit technology that has been used for decades, such as in vaccines for tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough or hepatitis B, he said.

"So these are technologies that we use on a daily basis here in Canada and around the world. In fact, they have many advantages, including the ease of handling them, the ease of storing them, the ease of transporting them, and so you can take these technologies without much difficulties. to remote areas, whether it's remote Saskatchewan, or Canada's north, or in fact in the middle of Africa."

Development of the vaccine has taken a toll on VIDO-InterVac's staff, as they helped test vaccine technologies from more than 100 companies while building their own vaccine, he said.

"So the thing that I really take away from this is, you know, our staff are putting an extraordinary effort into this. They're giving everything they have but you can really only sustain this for so long and then people are getting tired."