Possible Preventative Vaccination Strategy Against SARS-CoV-2 Via The Live Attenuated Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) Vaccine

Abstract

The broad range of severity in the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) disease has been of high interest in order to combat the global pandemic. Recently, trained innate immunity (TII) has been a concept investigated in a possible alternate preventative Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) vaccination strategy to strike against SARS-CoV-2, while a vaccine for the virus is being mass produced and administered worldwide. This strategy has been based off of previous investigations of determining conditions to induce innate mediated responses in polymicrobial infections. TII is the biological process of introducing a pathogen to induce a broad and non-specific innate immune response, that provides protection against subsequent infections. Previous work was utilized on studying a low-virulent fungal infection, that when subsequently challenged with a lethal fungal and bacterial polymicrobial infection causing sepsis, was met with an innate non-specific immune response. The few contraindications of the MMR vaccine, even for immunocompromised patients, could serve as a preventative measure to stall COVID-19 severity of high-risk individuals everywhere. This premise was applied to hypothesize a retrospective inverse correlation study of MMR Immunoglobulin G (IgG) titer levels and severity of COVID-19 from recovered patients. Indeed, a significant negative correlation of MMR titers, specifically Mumps, and COVID-19 severity was found that may serve as a preventative strategy before mass COVID-19 vaccination.