Because Pfizer and Moderna hold the patents for the current vaccines, researchers would likely have to get the companies' permission to use them for research into products like nasal or pan-coronavirus vaccines.
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration amended the emergency use authorizations (EUAs) of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine and the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine to authorize bivalent formulations of the vaccines for use as a single booster dose at least two months following primary or booster vaccination.
Back in January, we told you about a different kind of COVID vaccine that had just been approved for use in India. The vaccine, called Corbevax, had some very attractive properties: It's low-cost, easy to make using well-established biotech processes — and patent-free.