New flu vaccine could reduce future sick leave

It doesn’t take a scientist to know that the flu, which peaks during winter, is dangerous. From 2010 to October of 2017, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports as many as 710,000 hospitalizations and 56,000 deaths from influenza.

Similarly, it does not take an expert to make the connection between being absent from school and lower academic success.

A Johns Hopkins study in Baltimore concluded, “a strong correlation between sixth-grade attendance and the rate at which students graduated from high school on time.”

Given the inferred relationship between influenza and students missing class for sick leave, a new study from the University of Washington School of Medicine provides welcome news: a newly developed deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) vaccine could provide a future “one-dose universal vaccine.”

Current flu vaccines are created by predicting mutations in strains of influenza for the next year, mass producing inactive quantities of the strain, and administering it to the public. Individual immune systems then use the inactivated virus to create antibodies that provide immunity when exposed to the activated virus.

However, there are problems with current methods.

Nine months are required to mass produce enough vaccine for the population, and as a result, “[T]hey are based on prediction surrounding what the following year’s flu virus is going to look like,” explained technological writer Luke Dormehl on Digital Trends.

Dormehl continued, “As with all predictions, this can be inaccurate, meaning the vaccine won’t be effective as it could be.”

Deborah Fuller, a professor of microbiology at University of Washington School of Medicine whose lab innovated the vaccine, said, “DNA vaccines are different.”

By injecting genetic code for proteins of the influenza virus that remain present regardless of seasonal mutations, Fuller explained, “Our cells then read the code and produce the viral proteins, <also known as> antigens. When our immune system sees the antigens, it makes immune responses that can protect against influenza infection.”

Fuller’s lab tested the vaccine on monkeys using a pandemic strain of influenza from 2009.

She said, “With the immunized groups, we found that using [the] conserved component of the virus gave them 100 percent protection against a previous circulating influenza virus that didn’t match the vaccine.”

“This was very exciting for us,” she emphasized.

Apart from its success rate, there are several added benefits that set DNA vaccines apart from current technology.

To explain, Barbara Clements, a media relations representative for the University of Washington School of Medicine said, “A ‘universal’ vaccine would eliminate the need for yearly flu vaccinations and,” given that it can be mass produced in three months or less, “ could be on-hand for rapid deployment should a deadly pandemic strain of the virus emerge.”

According to Fuller, using universal, one-dose vaccines to protect against influenza is just the beginning of a revolution of how society protects itself against viruses.

Clements paraphrased Fuller, “The idea of a DNA-based vaccine might also pose a mechanism for vaccines for other viruses, such as Zika, and for possible pandemic outbreaks which might emerge in the future.”

However, the DNA vaccine might not help students currently at LRHS to reduce their sick leave or improve their academic performance. It may take five to 10 years for the vaccine to be approved for commercial distribution.

For future students, the potential for vaccine could make their lives a lot easier.

Student Kierstin Witt concluded, “I would be thankful if I didn’t have to take sick days. It would allow me to keep up with my homework better, and also give the teachers a break from having to catch up with me too.”

Although the DNA vaccine is fairly new, its potential to improve the health of both students and society is promising.