Although the clinical trials for Saskatchewan’s COVID-19 vaccine look encouraging with good immune responses, the work doesn’t end there.

The Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization on the USask campus is also looking ahead to a booster study.

VIDO’s director and CEO explains that clinical trials for the vaccine are ongoing, but then they will need to do a study to demonstrate it could also be used to increase immunity for booster shots for those who have already had their first shots, including from other types of COVID-19 vaccines.

Dr. Volker Gerdts expects that work would begin early next year, around the same time people started receiving their first vaccinations.

He says in the long term, VIDO’s COVID-19 vaccine could be used as an annual booster shot, and it could be combined with a flu shot. If new variants emerge, the vaccine would be upgraded to adjust to them.