‘2.0’ of COVID-19 vaccine quickly kicks immune system into high gear

In a new Northwestern Medicine study in mice, researchers took one of the current vaccines, which is based on the novel coronavirus’ infamous spike protein, and added a different antigen, the nucleocapsid protein, to form a new, potentially improved version of the COVID vaccine. The nucleocapsid protein, which is an internal RNA-binding protein, may help kick the immune system into high gear much more quickly than the spike protein is capable of since it is among the most rapidly and highly expressed proteins in coronaviruses.