PREVENTING INFLUENZA AND THE ROLE OF ADJUVANTED VACCINES
Adjuvanted vaccines have been shown to stimulate a persistent antibody response that could well improve their performance, compared to non-adjuvanted vaccines, over the longer term as strains of influenza adapt to the current vaccine Make a plan Not strictly a factor in choosing vaccines, but nonetheless very important, is for the practice to make a plan for a vaccination programme which addresses most of the eligible groups with appropriate vaccines as early as possible but also takes account of the fact that some people will become eligible during the season and so might need vaccination later. This could apply where a woman not previously in an eligible group becomes pregnant. NHS England encourages community pharmacies to undertake flu vaccination programmes to reduce the load on general practice clinicians. It also offers guidance in the form of a Service Specification publication17 which gives guidance on how to proceed and on practical issues such as safe storage of vaccines and stock management, to ensure that no vaccine is used after its expiry date.
Future Outlook for Influenza Vaccine Research Research into influenza, its genesis and how to avoid and/or combat it is continual even as new strains (often named after the species in which they were first identified) emerge every year. A universal vaccine One key objective of research is a universal flu vaccine that can cope with most strains identified to date and, more importantly, have the capability to build defence against possible future evolutions. A collaborative research programme involving universities of Lancaster, Aston and Complutense in Madrid has
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employed computational techniques to design just such a universal vaccine, as reported in Science Daily18. In fact, “researchers have devised two universal vaccines; a USA-specific vaccine with coverage of 95% of known US influenza strains; and a universal vaccine with coverage of 88% of known flu strains globally.” The importance of this development can be gauged from the cost when previous strains have gone unchecked. Pandemics in 1918, 1957 and 1968 led to millions of deaths. And, at any time, annual flu epidemics are estimated to cause up to half a million deaths globally according to the World Health Organisation. A universal vaccine would target that part of the flu virus that does not change from strain to strain. Needle phobia OK, it might not be that extreme but many people have a dislike of being injected and so might put off any vaccination until it’s too late. A development reported in The Telegraph19 this year has been a new skin patch delivery system which has been trialled delivering flu vaccine. Despite being in the ‘at risk’ group, fewer than 50 per cent of pregnant women in the UK accepted flu vaccinations in the winter of 2016/17 and it is hoped that the patch delivery might improve this number. Conclusion The battle against an adaptable virus such as influenza is not likely to be over soon but might well be won eventually with a combination of more effective and more broadly effective vaccines.