«The whole infrastructure required for the preparation
of seasonal vaccines has enormous disadvantages,» remarks Walter Fiers, a molecular biologist at Ghent University in Belgium.
Typically, H3N2 moves from East Asia to Europe and the United States, but Shu said it is too soon to know whether the Perth - like subtype in circulation will make major inroads in the West or reduce the effectiveness
of the seasonal vaccine.
Kieny said that for reasons that aren't fully understood, vaccine companies that use eggs to grow vaccine viruses get yields of only 25 % to 50 % of those obtained during the production
of seasonal vaccine.
Not exact matches
Apart from the nippy weather, many
of us start to notice change is in the air when the local chemist has started advertising flu
vaccines to prevent
seasonal influenza and more throats become scratchy and noses sniffly on our morning commute.
Prevention and Control
of Seasonal Influenza with
Vaccines, 2017 - 18.
The Oneida County Health Department announced today that the demand for
seasonal flu
vaccine has been much higher than anticipated and that their supply
of seasonal flu
vaccine was exhausted on October 9th.
Gilmore again urged residents to take steps to prevent the spread
of H1N1 and
seasonal influenza, including getting the
vaccine when it becomes available to them.
The Health Department emphasizes that there is no shortage
of seasonal flu
vaccine in Oneida County.
After its latest battle with H1N1, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention committee recommended in February that everyone six months and older get the annual
vaccine, a step that should improve immunity against future pandemics as well as
seasonal cycles
of the flu.
Widespread vaccination — which is why U.S. health officials are debating a nationwide swine flu vaccination program that would mandate the creation
of 600 million immunizations, more than five times the 115 million
vaccines administered each year to battle the
seasonal flu.
The
vaccine's effectiveness suggests there must be pre-existing cell - mediated immunity, possibly because
of similarities between the surface proteins on swine flu and the
seasonal H1N1 flu that emerged in 1977.
The company plans in October to conduct a separate test specifically to study the
seasonal flu
vaccine's effectiveness among 480 elderly participants (a demographic often encouraged to get
seasonal flu shots), and Phase III efficacy trials across a larger set
of demographics are scheduled to begin early next year.
Novavax says that during Phase IIa
of seasonal flu
vaccine testing, which began in May, it was able in the majority
of people tested to surpass the FDA's requirements for producing enough antibodies to protect the body from the H3N2, H1N1 and B viruses — all
of which were common enough a year ago to be used to develop flu
vaccines for the 2008 to 2009 flu season.
As the northern hemisphere braces itself for the flu season, and for the first time the US recommends flu vaccination for everyone over 6 months
of age, Australia has confirmed that its main
seasonal flu
vaccine, Fluvax, caused convulsions in 99 children, all
of whom recovered.
The current crop
of seasonal flu
vaccines, which contain H1N1, H3N2 and B flulike strains, are egg - based.
With no head in place to hoard the immune response, the
vaccine might coax the body to make enough stem - focused antibodies to protect against flu, the researchers hoped, regardless
of the
seasonal mutations occurring at the top.
Despite the limitations
of the
seasonal influenza
vaccine, people should still get their annual flu shot, say the authors.
They were randomized to receive one
of three
vaccines: the quadrivalent flu
vaccine that contained two A flu strains and both lineages
of the B strains; the licensed trivalent intradermal
vaccine for the 2012 - 2013 flu season; or an alternate trivalent intradermal
vaccine that contained two A strains and the B strain that was not in the licensed
seasonal flu
vaccine.
The responses
of those given the quadrivalent
vaccine were the same as those
of volunteers who received the
vaccine with two strains
of A and the strain
of B that matched the B strain in the 2012 - 2013
seasonal flu trivalent
vaccine.
In addition to growth problems with the virus, Hall noted that one
vaccine maker is still making
seasonal flu
vaccine and has yet to switch over to production
of the novel H1N1 product.
Although the world's attention is focused on the novel H1N1 virus causing the swine flu pandemic, H3N2, a
seasonal strain
of influenza, has popped up in many East Asian countries — and some variants in circulation may outfox the
seasonal vaccine in use.
Currently,
seasonal flu
vaccines are designed to induce high levels
of protective antibodies against hemagglutinin (HA), a protein found on the surface
of the influenza virus that enables the virus to enter a human cell and initiate infection.
She noted, too, that about 60 %
of Americans who CDC recommends should receive the
seasonal vaccine opted not to take it this year.
If there is such sustained transmission, versus imported cases from people who traveled to areas where the virus is circulating, several decisions would need to be made, Hartl said, including whether to switch production from the
vaccine for
seasonal flu to the one for pandemic flu, and whether to ramp up production
of antivirals.
The H3N2 strain is one
of three in the
seasonal influenza
vaccines.
«None
of them find any increase or decrease in the risk
of H1N1 disease associated with the
seasonal flu
vaccine exposure,» she said.
What drives
vaccine fears, he notes, is the knowledge that
vaccines don't work for everyone and that they can, on rare occasions, cause serious side effects, such as Guillain — Barré syndrome, which develops in one out
of every million people who receive the
seasonal influenza
vaccine.
The researchers then exposed some
of these strains to antibodies provoked by the current H3
seasonal - flu
vaccines.
Bruce Gellin, director
of the National
Vaccine Program Office, added that he has «high expectations» that the shots will work without adjuvants, as
seasonal flu
vaccines do.
Researchers around the world, including at the University
of Rochester Medical Center (URMC), are pursuing a «universal» flu
vaccine, one that would protect against most or all
seasonal and pandemic strains
of the flu virus.
The data obtained from this study provide a basis for more rapid, cost - effective clinical trials to evaluate new influenza drugs or to determine the efficacy
of candidate
vaccines for both
seasonal and pandemic influenza.
Total
vaccine supply will depend on several other unknowns, including whether 15 micrograms
of antigen is enough — as is the case with
seasonal vaccine — and whether one or two shots are needed.
Last week, the World Health organization reported that
vaccine companies have obtained yields
of the pandemic
vaccine that are 50 % to 75 % lower than those for
seasonal flu
vaccine.
While this year's
vaccine is a much better match to the circulating
seasonal strains
of influenza, the shifty nature
of the virus and the need to pick the viruses used to make global
vaccine stocks well before the onset
of the flu season can make
vaccine strain selection a shot in the dark.
Hensley and his team reported this egg - induced mutation, which was present in the 2016 — 17 U.S.
seasonal flu
vaccine, decreases the ability
of certain antibodies to attach to and destroy the flu virus — by a whopping three orders
of magnitude.
The finding is exciting «because it suggests that the
seasonal flu
vaccine boosts antibody responses and may provide some measure
of protection against a new pandemic strain that could emerge from the avian population,» said senior study author Paul G. Thomas, PhD, an Associate Member in the Department
of Immunology at St. Jude.
Seasonal flu
vaccines may protect individuals not only against the strains
of flu they contain but also against many additional types, according to a study published this week in mBio ®, the online open - access journal
of the American Society for Microbiology.
Most individuals tested had a strong antibody response to the
seasonal H3N2 human virus - derived H3 subtype, part
of that year's
vaccine (2009 - 2010), but many also had strong measurable antibody responses to group 1 HA (avian H5, H6, H8, H12) and group 2 HA (avian H4, human H7) subtypes.
«
Seasonal flu
vaccines boost immunity to many types
of flu viruses, research suggests.»
«Successful antagonists, following clinical trials for safety and efficacy, could be incorporated into the
seasonal vaccine as a way
of enhancing responses.
«The study by Egli et al. holds promise for enhancing the response
of the
seasonal influenza
vaccine by blocking the receptor used for the innate immunity signalling molecule IL28B.
Each year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, decides which strains
of influenza virus to include in the
seasonal flu
vaccine.
Sinovac Biotech Ltd. is biopharmaceutical company that focuses on research, development, manufacturing and commercialization
of vaccines that protect against human infectious diseases including hepatitis A and B,
seasonal influenza, H5N1 pandemic influenza and mumps, as well as animal rabies
vaccine.
«Confirmation
of the protective benefits
of the 2012 — 13 influenza
vaccine among persons aged 6 months — 64 years offers further support for the public health benefit
of annual
seasonal influenza vaccination and supports the expansion
of vaccination, particularly among younger age groups.