A single-dose mRNA vaccine provides a long-term protection for hACE2 transgenic mice from SARS-CoV-2

The rapid expansion of COVID-19 pandemic has made the development of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine a global health and economic priority. Taking advantages of versatility and rapid development, three SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine candidates has entered clinical trials with a two-dose immunization regimen. However, the waning antibodies response in convalescent patients after SARS-CoV-2 infection and the emergence of human re-infection have raised widespread concern about a short duration of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine protection. Here, we developed a nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccine in lipid-encapsulated form which encoded SARS-CoV-2 RBD, termed as mRNA-RBD. A single immunization of mRNA-RBD elicited both robust neutralizing antibody and cellular response, and conferred a near-complete protection against wild SARS-CoV-2 infection in lungs of hACE2 transgenic mice. Noticeably, high levels of neutralizing antibodies response induced by mRNA-RBD vaccination could maintain for at least 6.5 months and conferred a long-term remarkable protection for hACE2 transgenic mice against SARS-CoV-2 infection in sera transfer study. These data demonstrated that a single dose of mRNA-RBD provided long-term protection against SARS-CoV-2 challenge.