A new flu vaccine could replace the annual jab

A team from Oxford University has developed and put on trial a universal flu vaccine that is believed to offer better protection against all strains of the influenza virus, a disease that affects about a billion people with 250,000 to 500,000 annual deaths worldwide, mainly in those over 65 or under six months of age.

Current influenza vaccines target the outer layer and surface proteins of the virus and stimulate the body’s immune system to produce disease-fighting antibodies. But as flu viruses are highly changeable, researchers need to formulate new flu vaccines annually based on seasonal predictions, which means people need to get flu shots every year.

“The WHO sets a new vaccination each year for both the northern and southern hemispheres after looking at what types of influenza viruses have been circulating, but the system doesn’t work well for tropical areas that can get influenza all year and do not follow a winter pattern,” explained Dr Paul Van Buynder, Chairman of the Immunisation Coalition, who was not part of the trial, to Global Health and Travel. “A universal vaccine could be used all around the world with good effect.”

Using a different mechanism, the new jab targets part of the virus that does not change, allowing it to be active against all types of flu, while offering longer and better protection without the need for annual jabs.

Another drawback of current vaccines is that they are not as effective in those over 65 as the immune system weakens with age. Dr Sarah Gilbert, Professor of Vaccinology at Oxford University and co-founder of Vaccitech, a spin-out company from Oxford's Jenner Institute that is partly funding the work, believes that using the new vaccine alongside the current one could help address this problem.

"We expect that the protection from the new vaccine will last longer than a year and be given at longer intervals -- maybe every five years instead of every year -- but we will need to test that with more clinical trials in the future and test protection in the first flu season following vaccination," said Dr Gilbert to BBC.

The study, supported by the UK’s National Institute for Health Research, will compare the results of 500 people aged 65 and over who will randomly receive either a combination of the regular annual immunisation and the new vaccine or the regular immunisation and a placebo shot.

“Vaccination is the most effective prevention against influenza, the most important and severe vaccine-preventable disease in the world,” said Dr Van Buynder. He recommends starting flu vaccines as early as six months of age. 

This story was originally published in the Global Health and Travel issue of January 2018.