Top Israeli, US Healthcare Providers Developing Pan-COVID Jab

Sheba Medical Center, Israel’s largest hospital, is teaming up with leading American health organizations to develop a COVID-19 vaccine that will protect against multiple variants. 

Sheba will use its database, which is based on studies involving more than 9,000 of its healthcare staff, to help the development of the pan-vaccine. In the future, its research will also be applied to other viruses with the goal of preventing future pandemics. 

The Sheba Pandemic Research Institute (SPRI), a partnership between the medical center and the US government’s National Institute of Health, will join forces with the latter’s vaccine research center to develop the jab.

They will also be collaborating with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, a US government biomedical research facility, and leading pharmaceutical company Sanofi, which has previously developed a COVID vaccine, to create it. 

“This partnership has the potential to change the future of virus care and can transform the way we prevent and manage future pandemics,” said Prof. Gili Regev-Yochay, Director of SPRI and Infection Prevention & Control Unit at Sheba Medical Center. 

“The signing of the agreement and future development of this pan-coronavirus vaccine is a testament to the medical developments and research led by Sheba Medical Center both during and post the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Prof. Daniel Douek, Chief of the Human Immunology Section at the NIH’s vaccine research center, and Senior Scientific Advisor of the SPRI, said: “SPRI is the perfect complement to our team at the Vaccine Research Center in our shared goal to predict and understand the future of infections.

“Together, we will be discovering new ways to generate vaccines, monoclonal antibodies and tests for viruses that could be a game-changer for our pandemic preparedness.”