No one likes to be sick, but illnesses like covid and the flu can be more than annoyance if you’re older or immune compromised.
That’s one reason why a universal flu vaccine would be a huge relief to so many – and now, scientists say it’s just around the corner.
The scientists involved say they tested their vaccine on a potential pandemic strain with very promising results.
Author Jonah Sacha said as much in a statement.
“I think it means within five to ten years, a one-and-done shot for influenza is realistic.”
This means no more annual booster shots, and no more of scientists having to give their best guess on which strain to inoculate for in the first place.
There are many different research projects into this exact issue, including one that leverages the mRNA technology that was so successful against COVID-19.
For this study, the researchers have reworked a vaccine platform that is also being used to target HIV and tuberculosis in clinical trials.
It involves using a vector (another virus that doesn’t cause serious disease) to deliver the pathogen you want to vaccinate against.
In this case, the carrier vaccine is cytomegalovirus, which most humans contract but show very few (if any) symptoms.
It carried small pieces of the flu strain that caused the 1918 pandemic when it was injected into 11 macaque monkeys. The monkeys were then exposed to a modern strain, H5N1, to gauge whether or not it would protect them.
6 of the 11 monkeys survived the deadly strain of the flu.
“It worked because the interior protein of the virus was so well preserved. So much so, that even after almost 100 years of evolution, the virus can’t change those critically important parts of itself.”
This is why they’re finding their results so exciting, because the flu is constantly mutating and evolving to the point that we’ll never be able to tell which strain will cause the next deadly pandemic.
“Inhalation of aerosolized H5N1 influenza virus causes a cascade of events that can trigger respiratory failure. The immunity induced by the vaccine was sufficient to limit virus infection and lung damage, protecting the monkeys from this very serious infection.”
The researchers are hoping an updated CMV-based vaccine for humans could do the same for us.
They’re already planning additional research and then clinical trials, but they’re very optimistic about the five-years-or-less timeline.
“For viruses of pandemic potential, it’s critical to have something like this. We set out to test influenza, but we don’t know what’s going to come next. It’s a very viable approach.”
Sacha and his team are aware of what impact an achievement like this would entail.
“It’s a massive sea change within our lifetimes. There is no question we are on the cusp of the next generation of how we address infectious disease.”
Anything that helps the general public sleep a little bit easier is a worthy project.
And this one sounds like it’s on the cusp of a real breakthrough.
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