First success in long search for universal flu vaccine

Flu vaccines can help prevent us from getting or suffering the most severe effects of the flu. But, each vaccine only protects us from three different strains of the flu. If we don’t have a vaccine against all types of flu, it leaves us open for an epidemic with a flu virus we didn’t expect. After decades of research, the search for a universal flu vaccine that would offer protection against all strains has seen its first success. A clinical trial of a new vaccine strategy has been able to produce good immunity against several different strains of influenza viruses. Scientists from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, and the University of Melbourne in Australia studied the immune response to a different part of the flu virus than the one researchers currently use for seasonal flu vaccines. Instead of trying to generate immunity to particular types...