Could the MMR vaccine help protect against coronavirus complications

Could the MMR vaccine help protect against coronavirus complications? Cambridge University scientists say the jab could help because the infections 'share similar proteins'

Statistics show that people over the age of 65 are most likely to die of COVID-19 

MMR vaccination began in the UK in the 1960s, meaning older people missed it 

Scientists at Cambridge said coronavirus and rubella are 29 per cent the same

They found evidence of higher rubella immunity in recovered COVID patients

Suggest their findings mean 'a study is warranted' into a connection

Learn more about how to help people impacted by COVID

By SAM BLANCHARD SENIOR HEALTH REPORTER FOR MAILONLINE 

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The measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine could protect people from severe COVID-19, according to scientists. 

Researchers at the University of Cambridge said the jab could protect people because the rubella virus has a similar structure to SARS-CoV-2.

They pointed out that middle-aged and older people are less likely to have had the jabs, which came out in the 1960s, and are also most at risk from the coronavirus.

And blood testing done in an NHS hospital found that patients who had severe COVID-19 appeared to have developed 'non-specific' immune responses which could also have protected them from rubella.

The team have no proof that the MMR vaccine has any impact on COVID-19 patients but said 'a study is warranted'.

Their research comes as the Government today announced the UK will start trials of its first coronavirus vaccine candidate later this week.

The UK is trying to develop a coronavirus vaccine but researchers say trying to muster up some level of protection using one that might already work could save time (stock image) +6

The UK is trying to develop a coronavirus vaccine but researchers say trying to muster up some level of protection using one that might already work could save time (stock image)

Writing in a paper published online without being checked by other scientists or journal editors, the Cambridge researchers said: 'We suggest that MMR will not prevent COVID-19 infection but could potentially reduce poor outcome.'

The researchers, led by Professor Robin Franklin and Dr Yorgo Modis, suggest that structural similarities between the coronavirus and rubella could be one way in which the vaccine is protective.

When they analysed the two viruses they found that they were 29 per cent identical and there are 'known similarities' between coronaviruses and paramyxoviruses, of which rubella is a type.

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UK TO START HUMAN VACCINE TRIALS THIS WEEK 

A COVID-19 vaccine developed at the University of Oxford will be trialled on humans in the UK from Thursday this week.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock today said he was 'throwing everything at' Britain's attempt to develop the first vaccine in the world.

The Government will give the scientists an extra £20million to help with their trials, Mr Hancock said, and a further £22.5m to a project at Imperial College London.

The Oxford vaccine, known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 will be trialled on up to 510 people out of a group of 1,112 aged 18 to 55. It is recruiting volunteers in London, Bristol, Oxford and Southampton. 

It is the first British-made vaccine to go into real-world trials and carries with it huge hopes that it will provide a key to getting out of lockdown and banishing COVID-19.

The virus has now infected more than 125,000 people and killed 17,339 in the UK and the UK is on course to end up one of the worst-hit nations in the world. 

Mr Hancock said developing vaccines is an 'uncertain science' which usually takes years but that manufacturing capacity will be ramped up in case the jab is a success and is suitable to roll out to the public.

The trial will take six months and is limited to a small number of people so scientists can assess whether it is safe and effective without using huge amounts of resources - each patient must return for between four and 11 visits after the jab - and without the risk of large numbers of people being affected if something goes wrong.  

Because of this, if someone has developed immune system antibodies able to fight off rubella, they may also be able to partly fight off COVID-19, the scientists said. 

This could happen if the body was forced to develop antibodies targeted at one virus but also able to latch onto another.

The team said molecules found on the COVID coronavirus had been found to bind to rubella antibodies in past studies.

In a bid to further back up their claim, the scientists turned to links between vaccination rates and deaths from COVID-19.

MMR is now given routinely to children in the UK and around 92 per cent of children now get their first dose by their second birthday

Rates vary around the world, however, and MMR is one of the most controversial jabs among anti-vaxxers after a now-disgraced scientist falsely claimed it was linked to autism

MMR was introduced in 1963 in the UK, and people born before that may have had individual vaccines for the three diseases or no vaccination at all

People born before this time - over the age of 55 - are in the highest risk age group for dying of coronavirus, and can also be reasonably assumed to have the lowest vaccination rates, the researchers point out

In England and Wales, for example, data published today revealed that 87 per cent of all people who have died of the coronavirus have been over the age of 65.

A total 10,808 people out of 12,380 victims recorded by April 10 were older than that, and 60 per cent of victims were male.  

They pointed out that the trend - that older men are at most risk of dying if they catch the coronavirus - could be seen in Germany, Spain and Italy.

The researchers also found that older men were less likely to be immune to rubella than other groups. 

In the study they wrote: 'We recognise that these data are, at this stage, preliminary and that there are a number of limitations... 

'Nevertheless, older populations and males are both more likely to die from COVID-19, and less likely to [test positive] for rubella specific immunity, based on historical vaccination programmes of all three countries considered in this study

'In order to conclude whether MMR vaccination can improve the outcomes from COVID-19 infection, a study using individual based data to compare MMR immunity status in the affected population is warranted.'

??COULD THE BCG JAB PROTECT AGAINST COVID-19

Countries that have a widespread BCG vaccination programme have a COVID-19 death rate much lower than nations that do not use it, a study has claimed

The Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine was invented a century ago and gives immunity to tuberculosis (TB) — a bacterial infection — but it is known to have other benefits

Previous trials discovered people that receive the jab, which costs as little as £30, have improved immune systems and are able to protect themselves from infection.

For example, in a trial among Native Americans, BCG vaccination in childhood was able to offer protection against TB up to 60 years after vaccination.

The precise way this durable vaccine helps fend off other infections is relatively unknown but it may be by boosting the immune system's innate mechanisms

These so-called off-target effects include enhanced protection against respiratory diseases, and have been recognised by the World Health Organization (WHO)

In the UK, all schoolchildren between ten and 14 were injected with the vaccine between 1953 and 2005

As TB infection rates dropped, doctors abandoned mass vaccination and, in 2005, switched to targeting only the most at risk — such as babies with infected relatives

In a third bid to justify their theory, Professor Franklin and Dr Modis and colleagues studied blood samples from coronavirus patients in England. 

Using samples from patients at Luton and Dunstable University Hospital, they looked for signs of rubella immunity in severely and moderately ill patients

If their theory was correct, they said, they would expect to see higher levels of immunity among the more badly-affected patients after they had recovered - and they did.

They suggest that the antibodies patients developed during their battle against COVID-19 match up with rubella antibodies, potentially proving their theory in reverse - that coronavirus infection could protect people from rubella and vice versa.

'Whilst we accept that it is possible that this trend could be representative of pre-infection protection to rubella infection, it is not possible to determine this,' the team wrote

In conclusion, Professor Franklin, Dr Modis and colleagues wrote: 'Taken together, our preliminary data would support the hypothesis that rubella vaccination could provide protection against poor outcome in COVID-19 infection

'To determine if there is a potential effect of MMR vaccinations, it would be necessary to know the vaccination status of younger patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 and the severity of the diseas

'If there is a link, we propose that vaccination of "at risk" age groups with an MMR vaccination should be considered as a time-appropriate and safe intervention