Only one of these is the primary vaccine target that we build vaccines around, the so-called hemagglutinin protein. On the other hand, it is kind of a simple virus because there’s only really 10 components, or proteins, that comprise the virus. John Shiver: Flu is kind of a paradox, it changes, it is a moving target from year to year, which of course the vaccines need to keep up with that. I talked to John Shiver, the senior vice president of global vaccine research and development at the pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur, who also participated in the press conference. Messonnier sat down with several other flu researchers and discussed the challenges of creating a flu vaccine. Then those subtypes can be broken down even more into different strains and the exact kind of virus going around changes every single year.Įarlier this month at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference, Dr. These two proteins have several different subtypes. Scientists use two proteins on the shell of a flu virus to classify it: hemagglutinin and neuraminidase. Kasha Patel: The flu virus, unlike the ones that cause measles or polio, comes in several different varieties. So finding a vaccine is much more difficult because of how frequently the virus changes and the potential to have dramatic changes, which is what can lead to a pandemic. So the flu virus is a new virus every year, and we basically have a new season every year. Nancy Messonnier: It’s actually the flu virus that’s the problem.
Why haven’t we figured that out with the flu? Why do I have to go in every year for a different flu vaccine? Well, here’s the short answer: it’s an especially tricky kind of bug. We can keep diseases like measles and polio at bay with a couple childhood shots of a universal vaccine. Now, it seemed strange to me that we still have kind of large numbers for flu outbreaks nowadays. She’s the Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. Nancy Messonnier: Mild still means so far, in February, we have had 19,000 deaths due to flu, so in most settings, people wouldn’t think that’s mild. Thankfully, this year is considered “mild” but what does mild really mean? And while the flu is worse for the very young and the very old, last year’s season was the first to be labeled high severity across all age groups. died from the flu – that’s higher than the number of soldiers who died in the Vietnam War. But first, I want to talk about a nasty three-letter word that is very popular this time of the year: the flu. Plus, a new kind of teenage rebellion: kids who go against their parents to vaccinate themselves. In today’s episode, we’re talking about how people are reducing their carbon footprint after death. Happy February! I’m your host, Kasha Patel. You can also subscribe to the Undark podcast at iTunes or listen on Spotify.
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Also in this episode: Kasha Patel talks with researchers working to develop a universal flu vaccine that would provide protection across the seasons and Randy Scott Carroll reports on the trend of green burials, both for environmental reasons, but also as way to take back control over our bodies.īelow are the individual segments and a full transcript of the podcast, lightly edited for clarity. J oin journalist, author, and the director of MIT’s Graduate Program in Science Writing Seth Mnookin as he chats with Undark’s deputy editor Jane Roberts about teenagers pushing to get vaccinated against their parents’ wishes. Give us better vaccines and allow choice, we let 80,000 people die when we could have saved lives, sad! Vaccine profits for private companies trump saving lives of citizens, allow us to have more effective vaccines and oxygen and dental and vision care and alternative wheelchairs such as scooters and make people pay for their own Viagra! Insurance companies and their lobbyists have increased fatal outcomes for many and destroyed quality of life for millions. When people do not get vaccinated they place my life in danger, when children are not vaccinated their lives are in danger. If you are older or disabled your right to survival itself seems to be low priority for government and society and the medical community. The additive vaccines as given in Europe for years were also not available. Pharmacy and doctor claim it is illegal to give me this possibly life saving protection, even though around 30,000 receive it for alternative therapies. I am 62 and could not get the 65 and over more effective vaccine because the government saves money by refusing to test these vaccines on my age group.
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