How the technology used to make the COVID-19 vaccine can improve influenza vaccination

This is because vaccine developers have been working on developing influenza vaccines using the types of mRNA technology used in the Pfizer-BioNTech and Modana COVID-19 vaccines even before the pandemic. Toronto network.

Some are already in clinical trials.

The COVID-19 and influenza combo vaccine is not very advanced.

Yasuda says it would be incredibly useful to leverage mRNA technology to better protect people from the flu.

“In the future, we’ll have a single combination vaccine that addresses multiple infections that circulate at the same time. It could be COVID 19 and the flu,” she is the host of CBC Radio. I told Dr. Brian Goldman. dose Podcast.

“We’re not there yet, but it’s great to come for your one respiratory virus injection that covers you that season, isn’t it?”

The flu virus mutates frequently as it circulates around the world, Yasuda said. Mismatches can occur before scientists can see which strains are prevalent in the Southern Hemisphere and predict how people in the Northern Hemisphere will be vaccinated against the flu.

On average, flu vaccines are about 40 to 60 percent effective in protecting you from infection, according to Yasuda.

She said flu shots can save lives because people infected with the flu are at higher risk of having a heart attack or other heart problems than the general public.

“If too many COVID-19 and flu patients come to our hospital, it can paralyze the system,” she said.

Speed ​​is important to overcome the flu

Vaccine makers are trying to catch up with the mutant virus so that what’s in the vial better matches the influenza strain that others may encounter. Coughing person Or maybe it’s a little too close.

That’s where mRNA technology comes in. According to experts, long-term observation of influenza activity around the world and the rate of production of mRNA vaccines could be used to add circulating influenza strains to the vaccine and enhance public protection.

Scott Harperin, a pediatric infectious disease expert and professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, is leading clinical trials of influenza and other vaccines at the Canadian Vaccine Center in Halifax.

He states that mRNA technology is likely to accelerate the production of influenza vaccines compared to the time-consuming approach of multiplying the virus in eggs used today.

At least three companies have begun Phase 1 human safety trials of the mRNA influenza-only vaccine to see if the side effects reflect the side effects of traditional influenza vaccines such as arm pain and fever. It states.

Ultimately, to combine COVID-19 with influenza prevention in a single jab, researchers must first test the safe and effective application of mRNA technology to the influenza virus.

New technology brings better immunity

The Moderna and Pfizer mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 contain genetic instructions for making modified peplomer from the virus. When the vaccine is injected into the body, human cells use instructions to make a copy of the spike protein to learn to be recognized by the immune system.

See | Recommended Influenza Vaccinations in the Fourth Wave of COVID:

Doctors encouraging influenza vaccination to prevent further medical burden

Canadians are being urged to be vaccinated against the flu as soon as possible because doctors expect it to be much worse than last year, when the flu season is very low. They want to avoid the additional burden on the healthcare system, which is already suffering from COVID-19. 3:30

For the three mRNA seasonal influenza vaccines currently in clinical trials, companies need to show that this combination of influenza strains does not reduce the effectiveness of the immune response in front of regulatory agencies such as the Canadian Ministry of Health. there is. Consider approval..

Alyson Kelvin, a scientist at the University of Saskatchewan’s Vaccine Infectious Diseases Organization (VIDO), has spent years researching various influenza vaccines and working on COVID-19 vaccine candidates.

“We seem to have this wonderful, broader immunity from mRNA vaccine technology,” Kelvin said. “For some reason, can you target multiple influenza strains at once?”

Even if the answer is yes, there are also four circulating influenza virus strains because they use one peplomer from SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, as in current influenza vaccinations. It’s a leap to cover. , With a single shot.

“It’s exciting, but I think we really need to complete the investigation,” Kelvin said. Studies of all-in-one influenza and COVID-19 vaccination have not reached clinical trials in humans, which usually take years to complete.

Researchers are aware that better strategies are needed to vaccinate against the flu to achieve a more protective response, she said.

Until then, public health officials wanted people to wear masks and wash their hands as needed to protect people of all ages from all the pathogens that make them sick during the respiratory virus season. is.