Beta-containing bivalent SARS-CoV-2 protein vaccine elicits durable broad neutralization in macaques and protection in hamsters.

SARS-CoV-2 has changed over time, resulting in different forms of the virus called variants. These variants compromise the protection offered by the COVID-19 vaccines, which trigger an immune response against the viral Spike protein that allows the virus to attach and infect human cells, since their spike proteins are different. Here, we developed and tested a vaccine containing two different Spike proteins, one from the original Wuhan strain and another from the Beta variant. In macaques, the vaccine leads to the production of antibodies able to stop all variants tested from infecting human cells, including Omicron, with stable levels over one year. In hamsters, the vaccine protected against infection with the ancestral virus and the Alpha and Beta variants. Our findings have important implications for vaccine control of existing and future SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern.