Leaves are beginning to change colors, temperatures are starting to fall. People are swapping out their light summer clothes for scarves and jackets. That can only mean one thing…it’s time for a flu shot.
You need a flu shot every year because the vaccine is based on a best guess of what type of flu will be going around that year. But we’re a step closer to ending the annual ritual. Scientists from the University of Oxford will soon be testing experimental vaccine that targets the parts of the virus that don’t change each year.
Current flu shots work by getting the body’s immune system to recognize and attack the proteins that stud the virus particles. Yet the formation of these proteins can change year to year, meaning the vaccine needs to change, too.
The experimental vaccine—which is said to work against human, bird, and swine flu—instead targets the part of the virus that doesn’t change: the core proteins that make envelop the bulk of the virus particle.
Researchers don’t intend for this new vaccine to replace the current one. Rather, they hope the new will work in conjunction with the old. They are testing this new vaccine on a group of 500 volunteers. Half of the participants will receive the usual seasonal shot and a placebo while the other half will receive the regular vaccine plus the new experimental one.
But there is still a long way to go before the new vaccine becomes widely available since the current trial will take two years to complete. Here’s Michelle Roberts reporting for BBC:
Prof [Sarah] Gilbert, co-founder of Vaccitech, a spin-out company from University of Oxford’s Jenner Institute that is part-funding the work, told the BBC: “We expect that the protection from the new vaccine will last longer than a year, but we will need to test that with more clinical trials in the future.
“It is possible that, in future, vaccinations against flu might be given at longer intervals—maybe every five years instead of every year. But first we have to test protection in the first flu season following vaccination.”
According to the U.K.’s National Institute for Health Research, which is supporting this project, this is the world’s first widespread human testing of such a vaccine.
The best defense we have against the flu is immunization, but it’s not always effective. Last winter’s vaccine was about 40% effective, but it didn’t do much for people over 65. Vaccines aren’t as effective in the latter group because their immune systems don’t react as intensely to vaccines, reducing their efficacy. Gilbert and her colleagues hope this new vaccine will help boost their immunity against the flu.
