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Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have led an international team of scientists who have tested a vaccine for Crimean-Congo virus on primates for the first time. The vaccine provided protection against the virus, which can cause fatal haemorrhagic fever, and showed no serious side-effects. The study is published in the journal Nature Microbiology. The next big step will be to test the vaccine on humans.

Women vaccinated against HPV have a significantly lower risk of developing cervical cancer, and the positive effect is most pronounced for women vaccinated at a young age. That is according to a large study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in New England Journal of Medicine.

Two recent studies were unable to rule out that H1N1 (“swine flu”) vaccination (“Pandemrix”) and seasonal influenza vaccination given to pregnant women might be associated with autism spectrum disorder in the offspring. Now, a large study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, refutes any such association.

The world has essentially hit pause while waiting for a vaccine against the new coronavirus. But vaccine developer Matti Sällberg feels no pressure. “I’m a realist,” he says. “We cannot work any faster than what we already do. Others will be quicker, and therefore we are thinking long-term and focusing on finding a vaccine that can protect against several coronaviruses, including those that may pop up in the future.”

According to many observations, certain virus infections may play a part in the autoimmune attack that leads to type 1 diabetes. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and their Finnish colleagues have now produced a vaccine for these viruses in the hope that it could provide protection against the disease. The study is published today in the scientific journal Science Advances.

The human papillomavirus (HPV) causes, amongst other diseases, cancer of the cervix and oropharynx. A Swedish-Finnish study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases now shows that the most oncogenic HPV types can be eliminated, but only if both girls and boys are vaccinated. Both genders will be offered vaccination in Sweden as of 2020.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet are on track to produce a vaccine against the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. Several vaccine candidates are currently available in the freezers at the Department of Laboratory Medicine and the first animal studies are slated to begin at the end of March, according to Professor and Head of Department Matti Sällberg who is leading the effort together with virus researcher and Professor Ali Mirazimi and researcher Gustaf Ahlén.

A clinical phase I study led by the Public Health Agency of Sweden and researchers from Karolinska Institutet shows that a new vaccine for pertussis (whooping cough) given as drops into the nose is more efficacious than the current vaccine. The results of the study are presented in The Journal of Clinical Investigation. The vaccine will now be evaluated in a larger phase II clinical trial.