Thread by @Telegraph

💉A universal jab that can tackle all variants is the holy grail of Covid-19 researchers…

🔎Here @Telegraph takes a look inside the hunt for a Covid 'super vaccine' 👇

telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/…

🔴While vaccines have shielded hundreds of millions of people from developing more severe coronavirus cases, the current risk is that emerging variants could lessen that protection

Hopes across the world are mounting that science could once again come to the rescue.

💉Since the pandemic hit, researchers have been optimistic a "universal" coronavirus vaccine could be possible

The concept has recently been backed by a groundswell of support, including from the likes of Biden’s top medical adviser Dr Anthony Fauci.

🔴It will not be an easy task…

Researchers have been attempting to develop a universal flu vaccine for years

🦠Current versions target what is known as the "spike protein" but this is very likely to mutate…

Next-generation vaccines would instead aim to target other parts of the virus - proteins which are less at risk of mutating.

❓The challenge is identifying which parts would stay the same

"The holy grail would be a vaccine that works for all different variants because they've found an area of the virus which is stable, and which causes the immune response to occur," says David Heymann, a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

🔎Read more on the tests that are already underway to find a universal vaccine here 👇

telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/…