Brisbane’s Mater Hospital is starting trials on a universal flu vaccine that it hopes could do away with the need for yearly jabs. Researchers at the Mater have launched a clinical trial of vaccine OVX836, which targets the internal nucleoprotein of the flu virus, the part that is less susceptible to mutations.
Mater director of infectious diseases Dr Paul Griffin said a universal vaccine could dramatically shift the way clinicians guard against the flu by aiming to target parts of the virus that do not change.
“There are some limitations on flu vaccines, particularly those bits on the flu virus that the vaccine targets are prone to changing,” he said.
“That’s why the vaccine needs to be updated every year.But this vaccine targets something that doesn’t change anywhere near as often, something that we’d say is much more conserved across flu viruses.”
Dr Griffin said while it is too early in the trial to know for sure, he is optimistic the vaccine could last a “number of years”.
More than 40,000 cases of influenza have been confirmed in Australia so far this year. Forty-four people have died from the flu-associated conditions.
Have you already had your flu jab for this winter? Would you be more likely to get a vaccine that protects you for longer?
.
