Covid jabs will have to be tweaked annually like flu until universal vaccine is discovered – iNews

Covid vaccines are likely to become like influenza jabs, that are tweaked every year and offered to vulnerable people every autumn, according to a leading vaccine developer.

Professor Robin Shattock of Imperial College London says there are two approaches to next generation vaccines; the annual flu jab approach and the Holy Grail of the one-vaccine-fits-all-variants approach.

In the same way that the influenza vaccine is updated every year and given to the vulnerable population, an annual vaccine could be given for Covid as well, said Professor Shattock, a pioneer of the same RNA vaccine technology that is used by the Moderna and Pfizer jabs.

It would be tweaked each year just like the flu jab I think thats the most likely scenario in the medium term, he says.

This option is pretty effective, he argues. Even better, however, is the idea of a universal Covid jab although if the quest for a university flu vaccine is anything to go by, we shouldnt hold our breath.

The thing that people are trying to go after is to get a vaccine that will cover all variants. This gets people very excited and obviously is something that people should go for.

But he added: They have been trying to do the same thing for influenza for the past 20 years, so its not to say that its impossible but its also unlikely to be developed in the short term.

One can always have an exciting breakthrough that will change everything but I think in the next few years its going to more likely be updating the vaccine, rather than that weve suddenly discovered a universal coronavirus vaccine.

However things pan out in the coming years, it is likely that the Covid jab, like the flu vaccine that will be administered at the same time, will essentially is used to reduce hospital admissions, not to control transmission.

That is because, given the expense and resources needed to run a vaccination campaign, the main aim is not so much to eliminate all infections but to reduce the risk of serious illness when infection strikes.

Moreover, total elimination of infections isnt feasible because Covid jabs will only prevent a minority of infections but it will prevent the vast majority of severe cases.

With this in mind, Professor Shattock argues that, were the autumn booster campaign to be broadened out to the whole population, it would be less important for any additional groups to have the jab although clearly any reduction in infections is a good thing.

But its likely that any immunity built up from prior infection and vaccination will protect them against severe illness for some time to come, experts said.

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Covid jabs will have to be tweaked annually like flu until universal vaccine is discovered - iNews