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Medicine Science

Universal Flu Vaccine May Be Available Within Two Years, Says Scientist (theguardian.com) 283

A universal flu vaccine that protects against all strains of the virus could be available in the next two years, according to a leading scientist. From a report: An experimental vaccine based on the same mRNA technology used in the highly successful Covid jabs was found to protect mice and ferrets against severe influenza, paving the way for clinical trials in humans. Prof John Oxford, a neurologist at Queen Mary University in London, who was not involved in the work, said the vaccine developed at the University of Pennsylvania could be ready for use the winter after next.

"I cannot emphasise enough what a breakthrough this paper is," Oxford told the BBC's Radio 4 Today programme. "The potential is huge, and I think sometimes we underestimate these big respiratory viruses." Researchers have been working on universal flu vaccines for more than a decade, but the latest breakthrough, published in Science, is seen as a major step towards a jab that could help protect humans from a potentially devastating flu pandemic. Seasonal flu vaccines, which protect against up to four strains of the virus, are updated every year to ensure they are a good match for flu viruses in circulation. The new vaccine is designed to prime the immune system against all 20 subtypes of influenza A and B, potentially arming the body to tackle any flu virus that arises.

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Universal Flu Vaccine May Be Available Within Two Years, Says Scientist

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  • Universal as in a mix of all previous flu viruses that we identified so far, or universal as in common to all influenza viruses, so hopefully including future ones too?

    I mean, is this a vaccine with 20 sub-types compared to the 4 that current vaccines have, or is it something with more potential towards future protection against viruses such as H18N11?

    • Re:how universal? (Score:4, Informative)

      by jd ( 1658 ) <imipakNO@SPAMyahoo.com> on Friday November 25, 2022 @02:25PM (#63079380) Homepage Journal

      Universal as in common to all influenza viruses, possibly including future ones.

      • Universal as in common to all influenza viruses, possibly including future ones.

        Not all parts of a virus are as easy to change as all others. Some, if altered sufficiently, would require fairly massive changes to the virus itself to keep living and reproducing. For example, something with an important function which is common to the family of virus. Find a vulnerability there and it tends to be more difficult to evolve around than say small details with little or no dependencies of their own.

      • Actually, universal as in all Type A and B strains. Type C you probably wouldn't even notice you had it, and Type D doesn't infect humans.

        Then again, there are very few vaccines that can give 100% immunity, because plenty of people fuck up their immune systems doing stupid things like injecting with dirty needles, having unprotected sex with strangers, porcupines and raccoons [eturbonews.com], etc.

        • by trparky ( 846769 )

          Then again, there are very few vaccines that can give 100% immunity

          Guess again. The MMR vaccine has been around for decades and has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that it works. Have you seen a major measles outbreak? Nope. Mumps? Nope. Whooping cough? Nope. I'd call that pretty damn effective.

          COVID shot? Yeah, the effectiveness of that is not even close to the effectiveness of the MMR shot.

          • by narcc ( 412956 )

            Have you seen a major measles outbreak?

            Yes, because you moron anti-vaxxer's are selfish pricks.

            It must take real effort to be this misinformed.

            • by trparky ( 846769 )

              Where the fuck did you get that from asshole?! I said to take the fucking MMR vaccine you stupid fucking asshole. That by the very definition makes me PRO-VACCINE you fucking asshole. Shut the fuck up!!!

          • by jd ( 1658 )

            Covid shots are around 70-80% effective. If 95% of the population was immunised, R should (in theory) be below 1, which is all you really need.

  • by RightwingNutjob ( 1302813 ) on Friday November 25, 2022 @02:33PM (#63079398)

    I get my flu shot every year and I'll gladly roll up my sleeve for a more effective flu shot than the crapshoots they're giving out now.

    But:

    All this does is buy a little time. Flu has a lot of animal reservoirs, meaning that attenuating human transmission of the 20 subtypes or whatever that we care about know will serve to create an eventual opening for the 21st subtype which now circulates freely among critters and will now have an opportunity to leak into human circulation again.

    Binary thinking is everyone's enemy. Humans and our ancestors have been living with and co-evolving with viruses for hundreds of millions of years. It's silly to think artificially induced immunity will eradicate them any better than naturally acquired immunity. It's not a case of new shot equals cure all forever. A new shot buys you time until you need the next one. Just like a new antibiotic buys you time until it doesn't work so good no more.

  • by plazman30 ( 531348 ) on Friday November 25, 2022 @04:34PM (#63079622) Homepage

    The human immune system is really smart. There's got to be a reason why the human body hasn't targeted whatever antigen they designed the mRNA for. I'll be curious to see how the clinical trials for this goes.

    This will also put selective pressure on influenza to have virii that have a mutation in that antigen to evade the "universal" vaccine. So, it will be universal for while, until a new, better flu comes along.

  • This vaccine would be a great thing, if it works as promised, because it would combat flu infections from all currently known strains. But just as the COVID vaccines quickly became ineffective against new strains of COVID, flu will find ways to resist this new vaccine as well. That's how evolution works. Only those that are resistant to the new vaccine will survive, and those will be the new strains of next year.

  • The allergenicity of mRNA vaccines were acceptable when the world was in a hurry, but a quarter of people needing sick leave after the second shot seems a bit too much for a flu shot.

    • The allergenicity of mRNA vaccines were acceptable when the world was in a hurry, but a quarter of people needing sick leave after the second shot seems a bit too much for a flu shot.

      Taking a day or two off after a shot or spending a week or more off work from getting the flu.

      Decision, decisions.

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