The COVID-19 vaccines that saved lives still leave critical gaps in protection—they wane over time and do little to stop the virus from entering through the nose and spreading to others. This consortium of researchers wants to fix that. During the pandemic, they gathered extensive data on how the immune system responds to different vaccines. Now they are asking three concrete questions: how long does immune memory actually last, what does protective immunity look like in the airways rather than just in the blood, and which specific immune responses best prevent disease? They will also build open-source computational tools to combine their findings with existing clinical trial and real-world data, creating a shared resource for the entire vaccine-development field. If successful, this work could shift vaccine design from a trial-and-error approach to one driven by precise immunological principles. The immediate practical payoff would be better vaccines—ones that provide durable protection against both pandemic threats and endemic diseases like flu or RSV, and that can stop infection at the point of entry rather than just preventing severe illness. The programme also trains the next generation of vaccine scientists, strengthening the UK’s ability to respond rapidly to future outbreaks.
View original technical description
The COVID-19 pandemic saw the rapid development and deployment of a range of vaccine platforms. While essential to protect against severe disease, these vaccine platforms need further optimisation to provide long-term and local protection against infection including future variants. This vaccine optimisation requires an improved understanding of how a protective immune response is induced, how it is maintained, and the role of immunity in the nose and the lungs. Building on the experience our consortium amassed during the COVID-19 pandemic, we will answer some of the key outstanding questions in the field: 1.MEMORY We will delineate the mechanisms which influence the duration of protective immune responses. Improving understanding of immune memory is critical for the development and deployment of future vaccines with long-lasting protection against both pandemic and endemic pathogens. 2. LOCATION We will determine the role of the immune response in the airways, as the entry route for virus, in protection against infection. The aim is to understand if nasally administered vaccines can stop infection and onward transmission, as well as protect against severe disease. 3. PROTECTION We will define which aspects of the immune response protect against disease and how to maximise these responses. This will enable vaccine developers to focus on new vaccines that deliver improved protection. 4. DATA There exist large datasets from clinical trials and real-world studies that, if combined with the data from this programme, would generate a unique resource for understanding how vaccines work. To achieve this, we will develop an integrated data structure and open-source computational tools to integrate disparate data and maximise data usefulness. 5.IMPACT We will bolster pandemic preparedness by the training and empowerment of future leaders in vaccine development and engaging public understanding of the need for vaccines. Targeting these questions will lead to increased capability for rational, immunologically-driven vaccine development and uptake.
Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.
Is something wrong? Let us know