Scientists claim to have succeeded in creating a universal vaccine against all 20 strains of influenza. The vaccine, based on the same mRNA (MRNA) technology successfully used in the COVID-19 vaccines, contains elements of all known viruses and should in principle provide protection against new strains capable of causing a pandemic.
All existing vaccines now require constant updating to keep up with virus mutations, and it is unlikely that they will be able to provide the same reliable protection. So far, the new vaccine has only been tested in laboratory animals, so clinical trials in humans are still to come. But experts say a universal vaccine could be available as early as 2024.
According to recently published research from the US, the new vaccine has shown promising results in clinical trials in mice and ferrets, providing protection against all known strains of influenza. This potentially opens up the possibility of creating a universal vaccine that could, in principle, prevent future flu pandemics. This two-dose vaccine uses the same RNA matrix technology (mRNA) that Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna used to develop their COVID vaccines. mRNA is a molecule that contains instructions for cells to produce antibodies using their own internal mechanisms. To successfully enter the cell without damaging it, mRNA travels in a protective shell called a lipid nanoparticle.
At the same time, the vaccine does not promise a permanent end to seasonal influenza, but it can make life much easier for healthcare professionals who are forced to change the vaccine formula every year in the hope that it will provide protection against new strains.
mRNA chains are present in all modern influenza vaccines. But when asked by the BBC whether the new vaccine could be ready for this winter, Professor John Oxford, a professor of neurology at Queen Mary University, suggested there should be no rush. We explain quickly, simply, and clearly what happened, why it matters, and what happens next. The number of offers should remain: Episodes End of story: Podcast Advertising. “I wouldn’t rush things, but although I’m not a gambling man, I would bet that we will have this vaccine by next winter,” the Oxford professor said. “I’m sure it will come out, and I can’t put into words what a breakthrough this research has been. Thanks to the new mRNA vaccine technology, it has become possible to tame two beasts from the jungle of respiratory diseases – the flu and COVID-19. And this will help us a lot in the years to come.
The new vaccine will also need to be updated regularly to be effective against new strains, but according to the Oxford professor, it has the potential to save many thousands of lives. “Look at COVID, how many people it killed and how many were saved by new vaccines,” he says, “and yet we often underestimate the danger of influenza viruses. We need to tackle them as we did COVID, and I think influenza is the next big beast to tame.
Unlike standard vaccines, which carry one or two variants of hemagglutinin (a glycoprotein on the surface of the influenza virus that is key to the infection mechanism), the experimental vaccine contains 20 variants of this protein in anticipation of the human immune system’s ability to recognize any influenza virus in the future. In laboratory tests, the immune system of the test animals recognized the proteins of the hemagglutinin and protected the body against 18 strains of influenza A and two strains of influenza B. At the same time, the antibodies generated by the new vaccine remained in the blood for at least four months after injection.
According to the researchers, the vaccine reduced symptoms of the disease and prevented deaths even in cases where the ferrets were infected with viruses that were not included in the vaccine. Meanwhile, as Scott Hensley, director of the study at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, points out, a universal vaccine will not necessarily prevent infection. “The idea was to create a vaccine that would give people a basic immune memory against different strains of flu,” he says. “And that could significantly reduce the number of severe cases and deaths during the next pandemic.”
Of course, in every barrel of honey there should be a spoonful of tar, and as researchers Alison Kelvin and Darryl Falzarano of the University of Saskatchewan in Canada write, there are serious questions about how to assess the efficacy and potential requirements for a vaccine against future viruses that do not yet exist in nature. And the director of the Institute for Global Health at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, emphasizes that while initial test results suggest protection against all subtypes of the influenza virus, it will only be possible to say for sure after trials on groups of volunteers.