An influenza vaccine that could last a lifetime
Dec 7, 2020 21:24:37 GMT -5
formerlyme and tnthomas like this
Post by Drifter on Dec 7, 2020 21:24:37 GMT -5
Experts are homing in on an influenza vaccine that could last a lifetime
Annual flu shots may soon become a thing of the past.
With COVID-19 cases still surging, the nation is heading toward what health officials fear to be a “critical and dangerous time” -- battling the deadly virus and peak flu season. Now, researchers are pushing forward to find a better way of protecting vulnerable populations than with a yearly flu vaccine, which may not always be effective against the current viral strains.
Scientists have been scrambling to create an injection that can be one-and-done without the hassle of having to revaccinate the population on a yearly basis. Researchers, under the lead of Dr. Florian Krammer, a professor of vaccinology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, hope they’ve discovered the first sign of progress, according to a study published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine.
Krammer’s team of researchers are designing an injection that covers a broader range of virus strains that may no longer require yearly revaccinations.
“We are developing a vaccine so that we can provide more breadth of protection,” Dr. Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, director of the Mount Sinai Health and Merging Pathogens Institute and co-author of the study, told ABC News.
The current flu vaccine boasts an efficacy rate of 40% to 60% but this is only if the vaccine matches the current viral strains, which change every year. The vaccines are developed based on what scientists predict will be the next year’s batch of viral strains, leaving us a step behind one of the nation’s top killers and leaving our most vulnerable without adequate protection when scientists don’t get it right.
Read more here: abcnews.go.com/Health/experts-homing-influenza-vaccine-lifetime/story?id=74583613&cid=clicksource_4380645_14_post_hero_bsq_hed
Annual flu shots may soon become a thing of the past.
With COVID-19 cases still surging, the nation is heading toward what health officials fear to be a “critical and dangerous time” -- battling the deadly virus and peak flu season. Now, researchers are pushing forward to find a better way of protecting vulnerable populations than with a yearly flu vaccine, which may not always be effective against the current viral strains.
Scientists have been scrambling to create an injection that can be one-and-done without the hassle of having to revaccinate the population on a yearly basis. Researchers, under the lead of Dr. Florian Krammer, a professor of vaccinology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, hope they’ve discovered the first sign of progress, according to a study published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine.
Krammer’s team of researchers are designing an injection that covers a broader range of virus strains that may no longer require yearly revaccinations.
“We are developing a vaccine so that we can provide more breadth of protection,” Dr. Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, director of the Mount Sinai Health and Merging Pathogens Institute and co-author of the study, told ABC News.
The current flu vaccine boasts an efficacy rate of 40% to 60% but this is only if the vaccine matches the current viral strains, which change every year. The vaccines are developed based on what scientists predict will be the next year’s batch of viral strains, leaving us a step behind one of the nation’s top killers and leaving our most vulnerable without adequate protection when scientists don’t get it right.
Read more here: abcnews.go.com/Health/experts-homing-influenza-vaccine-lifetime/story?id=74583613&cid=clicksource_4380645_14_post_hero_bsq_hed