NEW YORK-- The FDA chose the four strains of the flu that will be targeted in next year's vaccine Thursday. But scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are looking far beyond next year, as they try to develop a universal flu vaccine.
It's the same problem each year -- making a vaccine against the flu virus is like trying to hit a moving target.
"It changes," said Dr. Anthony Fauci. "It mutates, just enough to get it out of the range of the umbrella of the protection of the vaccine."
Fauci heads up vaccine research at the NIH. He says we need a brand new approach.
"We've been using this technology of inactivated virus that you grow in chicken eggs since the 1940s. This is antiquated. We have to graduate from that," Fauci said.
In the six months it usually takes to create the vaccine using eggs, the virus can dramatically change. The solution is a universal flu vaccine that would protect against multiple strains of the virus for years -- perhaps a lifetime.
from Health - Google News http://ift.tt/2GVRBrc
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