New AI-designed vaccine could prevent pandemics and save millions of lives, scientists say

New vaccine technology created with the help of artificial intelligence could provide immunity against entire families of viruses and protect people from any future mutations in a single jab, scientists say.

The method could stop pandemics before they start, saving millions of lives and helping nations avoid lockdowns, according to researchers.

It could also provide broad protection from thousands of variants of viruses, such as ebola, according to the new research.

The "super-antigen" is developed using machine learning that analyses past and current outbreaks to determine what is needed for viruses to survive.

A world-first human trial has shown that a coronavirus vaccine manufactured using the technology is safe, with more than 200 people set to be taken on for a phase II study.

Experts have described the method as a "big paradigm change" to the current "reactive" system, which "struggles to keep pace" as diseases evolve.

Current vaccines use antigens from specific strains of virus already detected in humans.

But the universal Sarbeco coronavirus vaccine, developed by the University of Cambridge and biotechnology company DIOSynVax, brings together features common in the whole family of viruses.

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Scientists have created 'super-antigen'

Researchers take all available genetic sequence data on coronaviruses logged by surveillance programmes around the world to create a "super-antigen".

Professor Jonathan Heeney, from the lab of viral zoonotics at the University of Cambridge's Department of Veterinary Medicine, said: "What that COVID pandemic taught us is how fast we can make vaccines, but we're still using the old paradigm.

"This is about making one vaccine that will get them all based on their relationships."

Vaccine sparks immune response to SARS-CoV-2 and SARS

A phase one trial, published in the Journal of Infection, included 49 healthy volunteers aged between 18 and 50 who had the vaccine in Cambridge and Southampton, and was administered as DNA vaccine through a microfluidic jet.

The needle-free method uses a high-pressure, hair-thin stream of liquid to push vaccine blueprints directly into skin cells.

Researchers found the jab is safe and that it sparks an immune response to SARS-CoV-2 and SARS, as well as related bat viruses that could potentially jump from animals to humans.

A previous study in animals also found the vaccine triggered a strong immune response against a range of coronaviruses.

A phase two trial is expected to include "upwards of 200 or more people", Prof Heeney said.

He is hopeful that the technology can be a "game changer" that makes vaccines "far better, broader, and give more robust protection".

Prof Heeney said that he has travelled during various outbreaks, and the one that "really left a mark" was the West African Ebola epidemic, from 2013 to 2016.

There is currently another ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, caused by the bundibugyo virus.

"There's a lot of viruses out there, and once we know them, we start chasing them, but we have to change that paradigm," he said.

The team is also looking to advance on a bird flu vaccine, which Prof Heeney described as a "big global threat".

(c) Sky News 2026: New AI-designed vaccine could prevent pandemics and save millions of lives, scientists say