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June 09, 2003

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

“Forget Needle Next Flu Season”

Memphis Commercial Appeal (TN) (www.gomemphis.com) (06/07/03) P. A11; Bowman, Lee

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve soon a new influenza vaccine that is administered through the nose instead of by an injection.  The FluMist vaccine will first be approved only for use in people ages five to 49 years, until its safety can be demonstrated for the elderly and very young.  According to experts, the nasal spray vaccine gives more protection than an injection because it produces a stronger immune response.  The current vaccine attacks virus fragments that mutate quickly, which means that the serum has to be reformulated each year; but researchers at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia think that they can target a protein that does not mutate so easily or quickly to make a vaccine that is effective for longer periods of time.  Currently, the Wistar scientists are working with an engineered protein that imitates a viral-coat protein called M2.