Experimental vaccine may one day mean faster flu shots

Anexperimental vaccine based on a molecule related to DNA protects animals against influenza and might one day offer an ultrarapid way to develop newshots for humans, German scientists reported.

Assuming it also works in people, the approach could allow commercial flu vaccines to be designed and manufactured in weeks rather than months.

Making vaccines quickly is critical in fighting flu, particularly during a pandemic when health authorities and drugmakers are in a race to keep up with mutating strains of virus.

Flu vaccines have traditionally been produced in chicken eggs, a tricky and lengthy process. More recently firms have started using animal cell cultures.

The new vaccine developed by Lothar Stitz of Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut and colleagues uses a quicker approach. It is made solely of messenger RNA — a single-stranded molecule that carries information telling cells which proteins to make.

“The only thing we need is the sequence of the relevant genes,” Stitz said. “It’s a new option, and it doesn’t take long to do.”