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Oxford University Tests Universal Flu Vaccine

Posted by Soulskill on from the one-size-fits-all dept.

dbune writes "A universal flu vaccine has been tested by scientists at Oxford University. '... the vaccine targets proteins inside the flu virus that are common across all strains, instead of those that sit on the virus's external coat, which are liable to mutate. If used widely a universal flu vaccine could prevent pandemics, such as the swine flu outbreaks of recent years, and end the need for a seasonal flu jab.'"

1 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Hmm.. by Damarkus13 · · Score: 5, Informative
    Way to cherry pick a quote. Here's the rest of it.

    "We did get an indication that the vaccine was protecting people, not only from the numbers of people who got flu but also from looking at their T-cells before we gave them flu. The people we vaccinated had T-cells that were more activated. The people we hadn't vaccinated had T-cells as well but they were in a resting state so they would probably have taken longer to do anything. The volunteers we vaccinated had T-cells that were activated, primed and ready to kill. There were more T-cells in people we vaccinated and they were more activated."

    This test appears to be about safety and confirming some sort of t-cell response, not effectiveness.