Category Archive

Global leaders in vaccine innovation today announced the advancement of an mRNA-based vaccine candidate preventing both influenza and COVID-19 to a Phase 1 clinical trial.
The Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE vaccine candidate aims to address these severe respiratory diseases with one vaccine.
The vaccine candidate combines Pfizer's quadrivalent modRNA-based influenza vaccine candidate, qIRV (22/23), which is currently in Phase 3 clinical development, and Pfizer and BioNTech's authorized Omicron-adapted bivalent COVID-19 BNT162b2 (Original/Omicron BA.4/BA.5) vaccine.

During the two-day U.S. CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meeting led by Dr. Grace Lee, several presentations revealed significant vaccine progress and measurable health impact.
However, when Jessie Chung MPH, Samantha Olson MPH, and Nathaniel Lewis Ph.D. presented the preliminary influenza vaccine efficacy (VE) results from the last flu season, various ACIP members expressed shock and dismay.

A global leader in influenza prevention announced that the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the U.S. Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, had selected CSL Seqirus to manufacture and clinically assess a cell-based, adjuvanted pre-pandemic influenza vaccine candidate to support the U.S. government's pandemic preparedness activities.

With a potentially severe respiratory season ahead, data released today by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) indicates many Americans are unaware of their health risks.
The 2022 National Survey: Attitudes about Influenza and Pneumococcal Disease, and the Impacts of COVID-19, was released by the NFID on October 4, 2022, indicating only 49% of adults plan to get an influenza vaccination during the 2022-2023 flu season.

New data announced today from four real-world studies shows the impact that cell-based and adjuvanted influenza vaccines can have in reducing the burden of seasonal influenza on hospitals and health systems.
The data from CSL Seqirus were presented at OPTIONS for the Control of Influenza (OPTIONS XI), being held in the United Kingdom.

The latest influenza data published by the U.S. CDC today collaborates recent findings announced by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.K.
'The current influenza surveillance data should be interpreted with caution as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has … likely played a role in reducing influenza virus transmission,' says the WHO.
The CDC's new FLUVIEW report focused on the 2021-2022 Influenza Season and clinical laboratory data, revealing whether influenza activity is increasing or decreasing in the USA.

According to the latest U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report, the 2022-2023 influenza viruses have yet to arrive in the USA.
While seasonal influenza (flu) viruses are detected year-round, the exact timing and duration of flu seasons vary. Influenza activity often increases in October, with peak activity between December and February, says the CDC.

As the flu season approaches from the Southern Hemisphere this year, plenty of U.S. FDA-approved influenza vaccines are available to protect people.
However, anyone can get the flu before they are vaccinated, and occasionally even after.
To help reduce the severity of influenza in children, the FDA recently extended the use of a leading oral antiviral medicine.

According to research published this week in the Journal of Virology, coinfection of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A viruses changes neither the trajectory nor the severity of influenza A infections, regardless of timing. 
But should a person contract the influenza A virus first, the response to that infection can significantly suppress the SARS-CoV-2 impact.

The National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, MD, recently announced a Phase 1 clinical trial of a novel influenza vaccine that has begun inoculating healthy adult volunteers.
This innovative study will evaluate the safety of the whole-virus BPL-1357 vaccine candidate’s ability to prompt immune responses. 
BPL-1357 was developed by researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).