Researchers at Mt. Sinai Medical School are looking into creating a universal influenza vaccine. A "headless" form of the vaccine has been tested in mince and has proven to prevent against influenzas that killed other mice. They say that with more development this technology will be applicable to humans.Flu vaccines today allow the body to create antibodies against the "heads" of the virus as seen in the picture above. That portion of the virus is very specific and changes rapidly- which is why we get a new vaccine every year as the prevalent strain changes. The new vaccines allow the body to create vaccines against the lower portion of the hemaglutinin, which does not change as often.
"Through further development and testing, we predict that a single immunization with a headless HA vaccine will offer effective protection through several influenza epidemics," Peter Palese of Mt. Sinai Medical School stated.
The hope is that the possibility of a universal flu vaccine could open the door to other types of universal vaccines.
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