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Oxford University Tests Universal Flu Vaccine
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.'"
The worldwide death toll from the flu and its complications is in the hundreds of thousands. This is potentially more than just preventing an occasional annoying illness. It's more on the order of preventing all fatalities from traffic accidents.
"The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent." --Carl Sagan
Oddly enough, reducing mortality rates goes a long ways towards lowering population growth. People who expect their children to survive will have fewer of them and invest more resources into the ones they have.
We all know that the drug manufacturers wont produce this vaccine. Currently they have a constant revenue stream with a new vaccine needed seasonly. Greed is better than a cure. It's a false hope.
Why does this nonsense always get a mod-up?
Look around you.
See anyone dying of Smallpox? Measles? Polio? Diphtheria? Tetanus? Has your daughter received the HPV - Cervical Cancer vaccine?
There is big money to made in treating cancer.
Why do you suppose that this vaccine wasn't suppressed?
The answer is that the cure brings with it a new level of understanding. It exposes opportunites that had never before been seiously considered.
When most men and women were in failing health along about age 45 or so, it didn't make much sense to put real money into studying arthritis, cancer, glaucoma, senile dementias, and so on.
I was going to post that. Another thing which is really great for decreasing population growth is ensuring that parents don't have to be supported by their children in old age. That reduces the pressure to produce many children and as a result parents tend to have fewer children or none at all of their own choosing.
The common cold isn't caused by one virus, there's many different ones which are responsible. So in other words you could probably create an immunization to cover most of it, but you'd be stuck developing a vaccine like this for each of them ones.
the vaccine targets proteins inside the flu virus that are common across all strains
Huzza! Resistant Virus strains of the world, UNITE! The time has come for those of us in minority to rise up against our new protein targeting foe! Our cousins, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers have been killed by these anti-protein wielding vaccinologists!
Behold the folly of their folly! They ignore us outliers, complacent that we have not the capability to fill the niches left by our lost brethren.
TL;DR: Meh, mutants; The ones you don't target will become the next Flu epidemic -- Do we really want to breed viruses which are that much harder to kill?
"The seasonal flu is not a danger in countries with basic hygiene and sufficient access to medical facilities."
Since some years over 49000 people died of the flu in the US (_with_ umpteen millions vaccinated), does that mean it's not a country with basic hygiene and sufficient access to medical facilities?