You might soon be able to take a pill instead of a vaccine to protect against Covid.

Researchers in Japan have developed an oral vaccine which, when given to monkeys, saw them produce enough antibodies to protect against the virus without any side effects.

The pill contains a small inactive part of the Covid virus, but the antibodies are released in the mucus instead of the blood like with a traditional vaccine. 

The idea is that antibodies can neutralize the virus at the entry point before it gets to infect cells and multiply, causing illness.

It comes after the CDC approved a new Covid booster vaccine on Tuesday, hoping to rev up protection ahead of winter as cases rise across the country, but appetite for yet another shot is dwindling and researchers believe a pill could counter falling vaccination rates

The most effective way to stop viruses is before they enter human cells and researchers believe it is important for antibodies to be produced in the mucus so they are closer to where the virus lives on the external surface of epithelial cells, which generate mucus.

A specific category of antibodies, called Immunoglobulin A, function in mucus and can neutralize viruses, but production of specific immunoglobulins or antibodies for a virus, like those to protect against Covid, has to be induced by a vaccination.