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Prof. Sinead Delany-Moretlwe Wits RHI
Supplied: University of Wits
- Scientists at Wits and UCT are launching a clinical trial to test whether children’s measles, mumps and rubella vaccine can protect front-line healthcare workers.
- The team hopes to register up to 5,000 participants.
- Each participant will be monitored for five months and the trial is expected to last one year.
Scientists from the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Cape Town (UCT) are launching a clinical trial to test whether children’s measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine can protect front-line healthcare workers of Covid-19 or reduce the severity of illness if they become infected.
According to scientists, the MMR vaccine has been safely administered to hundreds of millions of people around the world since it was approved nearly 50 years ago and “successfully reduced the incidence of measles, mumps and rubella worldwide.”
“We know that the MMR vaccine is safe and we believe there are two main reasons why it could prevent Covid-19,” said Wits HIV and Reproductive Health Institute (Wits RHI) research professor and one of the national principal investigators. of the essay, Sinead. Delany-Moretlwe said in a statement Tuesday.
“First, this type of vaccine, which contains small amounts of very weakened measles, mumps, and rubella viruses, appears to strengthen the body’s immune response to infections in general, not just the viruses in that particular vaccine. “he added.
According to the research team, the trial points to growing evidence suggesting that the MMR vaccine may have benefits beyond protection against MMR.
“It could vastly increase an individual’s immunity and can prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection for a limited period because the vaccine carries small amounts of weakened live viruses that could train the body’s immune system to fight multiple pathogens,” says the release. .
READ | Wits Announces First SA Covid-19 Vaccine Trial, First Participants To Enroll This Week
Also, scientists believed that the MMR vaccine could be effective, as there were similarities between the weakened viruses in the vaccine and the SARS-CoV-2 virus that caused Covid-19.
The researchers hoped to establish whether the vaccine could elicit an immune response that would slow the spread of the virus and protect front-line healthcare workers working in high-risk settings from the development of Covid-19.
“If we discover that the MMR vaccine can help train the body’s immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection, then we will have something to deliver very quickly, while we wait for more specific vaccines and preventive therapies to be developed.
National Co-Principal Investigator and Second Chair of the UCT Department of Anesthetics, Professor Bruce Biccard added:
If the trial shows that the MMR vaccine can stimulate the body’s immune response, we believe it can also improve the effectiveness of vaccines currently in development in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection.
According to Wits and UCT, the study will recruit frontline health workers from low- and middle-income countries such as South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ghana and Uganda, as well as from high-income countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Health workers participating in the route would be randomly divided into two groups; one receiving the MMR vaccine, while the other group would receive an inactive placebo.
The team hoped to enroll 5,000 participants from various sites in Gauteng, Western Cape, Free State, and Kwazulu-Natal.
In addition, each participant would be monitored for five months, while the trial was expected to last one year.
Health workers should be aware that those (who were) previously ill with Covid-19; pregnant women and those taking medications that suppress their immune systems or are seriously ill would not be eligible to participate in the trial.
The trial was funded by a $ 9 million grant from the Covid-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, an initiative launched by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome, and Mastercard with support from a variety of public and philanthropic donors, including the Medical Research Council. from South Africa. .
– Compiled by Canny Maphanga
