Abstract
There is an ongoing global effort, to design, manufacture, and clinically assess vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. Over the course of the ongoing pandemic a number of new SARS-CoV-2 virus isolates or variants of concern (VoC) have been identified containing mutations that negatively impact the role of neutralising antibodies. In this study we describe the generation and preclinical assessment of a ChAdOx1-vectored vaccine against the variant of concern B.1.351 (AZD2816). We demonstrate AZD2816 is immunogenic after a single dose and when used as a booster dose in animals primed with original vaccine AZD1222, we see no evidence of original antigenic sin but high titre antibodies against a number of variant spike proteins. In addition, neutralisation titres against B.1.351 (Beta), B.1.617.1 (Kappa) and B.1.617.2 (Delta), are induced in these boost regimens. These data support the ongoing clinical development and testing of this new variant vaccine.
Competing Interest Statement
SCG is co-founder and board member of Vaccitech and named as an inventor on a patent covering use of ChAdOx1-vectored vaccines and a patent application covering the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222) vaccine. TL is named as an inventor on a patent application covering the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222) vaccine and was consultant to Vaccitech. PM was an employee of AstraZeneca, KR is an employee of AstraZeneca. HB is an employee of AstraZeneca and is a named inventor on a patent application covering the AZD2816 vaccine.
