April 25, 2021
Scientists working on a vaccine for a specific virus that affects pigs may have inadvertently created a prototype for a universal coronavirus vaccine — one that protects against all coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2 and, theoretically, its mutations. Such a vaccine would be a boon in fighting the ever-mutating SARS-CoV-2 virus, for which some subsequent mutations have been discovered to be more resistant to the existing approved vaccines.
Specifically, the researchers attempting to address porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) believe they may have developed a way to someday create a universal vaccine against all coronaviruses, from SARS-CoV-2 (which causes COVID-19) to those responsible for certain types of the common cold. PEDV is also a type of coronavirus, the broad class of related RNA viruses that resemble a spherical, pointy star and whose members also include SARS-CoV-2 (the "novel coronavirus"), SARS and MERS.