Research for a vaccine: new projects with the COVIREIVAC platform

Researcher, Institutions

Research for a vaccine to the Covid-19 virus continues in France with the start of new projects on the COVIREIVAC platform. The platform was launched in October and supervised by the INSERM in cooperation with university hospital centre and immunology labs. Its aim is to lead a clinical research of excellence on vaccine response.

Since October 1st and thanks to the COVIREIVAC platform, 50,000 volunteers registered to participate in the improvement of knowledge on new vaccines. Research targets the duration of the protection and the quality of immune response of current vaccines.

In addition to these precise targets, clinical studies supervised by the COVIREIVAC can provide scientific responses to vaccine strategy. This is the case of trials led as part of two systems, COVI-COMPARE and COV-PART, that should provide significant data about the various vaccines currently available.

COVI-COMPARE to assess the duration of immune response according to age

Trials led as part of COVI-COMPARE encourage the “immunogenicity” approach of various vaccines, i.e., as the INSERM explains, “studying immune response they induce, including in people aged 65 and up, comparatively with populations of younger adults”.

In concrete terms, research should lead to a better understanding of how vaccines against Covid-19 work to guide their use according to various populations. Participants to this study were all vaccinated with various serums and are followed during two years. The observation duration will help test the intensity and duration of immune response and generate information to decide the necessity (or non-necessity) to create booster shots of vaccine depending on various criteria (age and/or immune status) in the future.

COV-POPART to understand the nature of the immune response depending on pathologies

The COV-POPART cohort (Covid-19 vaccine cohort for special populations) is a national cohort that will include a total of 10,500 participants in 35 centres in France with the objective of assessing the production of antibodies against Covid-19 in vaccinated individuals with pathologies that may affect their immunity (HIV, diabetes, obesity, inflammatory diseases, etc.).

According to INSERM, this cohort should also make it possible to identify potential vaccine failures and to study the role of variants in these failures. The participants will also be followed for two years in order to provide essential data for vaccination policy in these fragile populations, which are particularly at risk of severe forms of Covid-19.

REACTING to test four experimental treatments

Research for a vaccine is not the only weapon to fight coronavirus. Indeed, as part of the European consortium REACTING, four experimental treatments against Covid-19 started in late March. The INSERM supervises this trial on 800 French patients with severe forms of the disease. The cohort will help assess the efficiency and security of four experimental therapeutic strategies that may have an impact on Covid-19 “in the light of current scientific data”. According to the INSERM, the strength of this trial is its “adaptative” aspect: inefficient experimental treatment can be discontinued and replaced by other molecule emerging from research.