Vaccine: VSV based live attenuated recombinant vaccine against Novel Coronavirus infection systems

Dr. Dibyendu Kumar Das, Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, IIT Kanpur and his team have aimed to develop replication-competent vaccines against Novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) based on attenuated recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV) vectors expressing the novel corona virus spike (s) glycoprotein (rVSV-SARS-CoV- 2S). Vaccines, designed on live attenuated recombinant VSV template have been highly effective in animal models and are particularly appealing because they can be administered mucosally. Additionally, VSV rarely infect human and the chance of infection due to VSV is negligible. Recently, recombinant VSV based Ebola virus, Marburg virus and Lassa virus vaccine has been developed and tested effective in nonhuman primates model. The rVSV-ZEBOV-GP vaccine against Ebola had been 97.5% effective at stopping Ebola transmission, relative to no vaccination, approved by WHO in 2019 for vaccination.