SSOs can be designed to target the exonic splicing enhancer (ESE) present in the exon E17. This will lead to the exon skipping and generation of the transcript without E17. The protein encoded by the modulated variant will lack the transmembrane domain and hence remain soluble limiting the entry of SARS-CoV-2 (and SARS-CoV) in the host cell. Similarly, SSOs can also be designed to modulate the splicing of novel exons.