#wakeuptocorona

Vaccinate more with the same supplies

The current vaccination campaign involves injecting the vaccine into muscle tissue, but injecting a smaller amount of vaccine in the skin might also provide good protection. The #wakeuptocorona crowdfunding campaign has enabled Anna Roukens (LUMC) to examine the safety of vaccination delivery via the skin.

‘A huge problem is that there are currently not enough supplies to vaccinate everyone at the same time. With skin vaccination, we can vaccinate more people using the same amount of vaccine. This means people would be vaccinated sooner.’

Skin vaccination isn’t new. The method has been used for some time now for rabies and yellow fever vaccinations. It is good way to use the vaccine as sparingly as possible. Anna and her team now want to find out whether the Moderna vaccine is also suitable for immunisation via the skin. Thanks to the crowdfunding campaign, Anna was able to start her research into the safety of skin vaccination, but more money is needed to discover how much vaccine is needed to provide good protection.

'We hope to speed up the Dutch vaccination campaign, but we are not yet sure whether the results will be available before the end of the first round of vaccinations. What we do expect, however, is more frequent coronavirus outbreaks. Moreover, almost no vaccines have yet been administered in poor countries. So we are definitely not done with vaccinations yet.’

Do you support Anna's goal to be able to vaccinate more people with the same supplies? Donate here.

About #wakeuptocorona
In the Netherlands, there are only a handful of laboratories that conduct safe research into the coronavirus. Thanks to thousands of donors of #wakeuptocorona, the LUMC was able to set up a second Biosafety Level 3 lab to study the coronavirus. The crowdfunding campaign enabled researchers in the university medical center to quickly scale up their research - in an (inter)national context - into virus inhibitors, medicines and vaccines.

Crowdfunding continues, also with a view to the longer term. Molecular virologist Eric Snijder in a university news item about the Janssen vaccine:

'The present challenge is to achieve a sustainable level of improved pandemic preparedness, including vaccine and drug development pipelines for coronaviruses and other viral threats. Clearly, knowledge about viruses and their transmission are key in efforts to prevent a future pandemic.'

Together against the virus
The #wakeuptocorona campaign continues to enable (even) more research to prevent a recurrence of the corona crisis, focusing on vaccines and other ways to fight viruses. 'Despite a lot of attention being presently given to vaccine development, antiviral drugs remain an important first line of defense,' LUMC's dr. Marjolein Kikkert explains.

The crowdfunding campaign #wakeuptcorona is an initiative of the Leiden University Fund in collaboration with the Bontius Foundation of the LUMC. The name #wakeuptocorona has its origins in the social media challenge in support of the action.

Donating from abroad
On this website, it is easy to donate using iDeal, your credit card or a one-off direct debit using the blue donation button. Since many of our alumni and suppoters live outside the Netherlands, we've also assembled all information you might need on our Leiden University Fund website about other ways of giving (by bank transfer) and tax benefits.

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LUMC Center for Infectious Diseases
Leiden researchers began research into infectious diseases such as Ebola and SARS 25 years ago. With the knowledge that it has acquired, the LUMC has become the research and knowledge centre in the Netherlands in the field of infectious diseases.The LUMC is located at the Leiden Bio Science Park, where we collaborate with various international companies such as Janssen Pharmaceutica as well as with start-ups, and use is made of our test facilities. Internationally, our researchers work with various European partners.

'Skin injection could allow us to vaccinate up to five times more people from the same supplies'
We are currently still raising funds for, among other things, the research of LUMC internist and infectious disease specialist Anna Roukens. Thanks to the crowdfunding campaign, Roukens was able to start her research into the safety and effectiveness of skin vaccination, but more is needed to discover how much vaccine is needed for proper protection. Roukens: ‘A huge problem is that there are currently not enough supplies to vaccinate everyone at the same time. With skin vaccination, we can vaccinate more people using the same amount of vaccine. This means people would be vaccinated sooner.’

Completed and ongoing research projects
Researchers from the LUMC are fighting the battle against coronavirus on multiple fronts. Below are the research projects that #wakeuptocorona donors have contributed to.

First of all, there is the research by Professor Eric Snijder and his team into virus inhibitors. With your support, a second Bio Safety Level 3 laboratory could be set up where the team can continue, accelerate and expand their research in a safe environment.

Led by Dr Marjolein Kikkert, the PREVENT nCoV-19 project is researching candidate vaccines. On this project, the vaccines are being tested in the lab and clinic for safety and effectiveness. The research is being carried out in collaboration with Leiden pharmaceutical company Janssen. The Janssen-Cilag International N.V COVID-19 vaccine has received authorization for emergency use by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on March 11 2021. The vaccine was developed with fundamental support from the Molecular Virology group of the Leiden University Medical Centre.

Dutch paediatricians are collecting data on children who are hospitalised having contracted the virus. This is under the leadership of the LUMC’s Willem-Alexander Children’s Hospital. They want to find out more about the manifestation, progression and treatment of COVID-19 in children. This will help us protect children, and the adults around them, and will provide valuable input for policymakers.

The current COVID-19 vaccination campaign involves injecting the vaccine into muscle tissue, but injecting a smaller amount of vaccine in the skin might also provide good protection. The #wakeuptocorona crowdfunding campaign has enabled Anna Roukens (LUMC) to examine the safety and efficacy of vaccination delivery via the skin.

Finally, the researchers of the BEAT-COVID project are also very happy with the contribution from the crowdfunding campaign. This ambitious project, in which more than fifteen departments from the LUMC work together to better understand COVID-19, is unique in every respect. Doctors and researchers started a large study side in which improvement of care for the patient with Covid-19 is central. With this research they hope to be able to answer questions about the role of the immune system and factors that can predict the course of the disease in order to arrive at an individualized treatment of patients.

Look for current news on the News page on this website.

Does your company, fund or foundation want to help fight coronaviruses? Feel free to contact our relationship manager Ambika Lucassen at 071 526 57 49 about giving opportunities or read more about scientific research in the fight against coronavirus at Bontius Foundation | LUMC Research Foundation.