Hong Kong’s Dr Sophie Valkenburg part of team working on lifelong flu shot

Hong Kong doctor part of team working on new type of influenza vaccination that promises to be more effective and much longer lasting. Cooler weather heralds the peak influenza season in Hong Kong, and it’s time to book ourselves in for a flu jab. It’s no one’s favourite annual event, but in the future we might be able to acquire lifelong immunity with just a single shot. Dr Sophie Valkenburg is a post-doctoral research fellow at Hong Kong University’s School of Public Health. She’s part of a team working in collaboration with researchers at the National Institutes of Health in the United States to develop a new type of influenza vaccination which promises to be more effective, and longer lasting, than anything now available. “The current generation of flu vaccines are good but they have limitations,” says Valkenburg. These limitations include the notorious seasonality. “The current vaccine requires worldwide surveillance from a network...