Drug company Moderna says its combined flu and Covid vaccine, which targets the two diseases in a single shot, has passed a vital part of final-stage scientific checks.
The phase-three trial shows the vaccine arms the body with protective antibodies.
And it does so as effectively as separate flu and Covid shots, results suggest.
Fewer injections would be more convenient and simpler, Moderna says.
Chief executive Stephane Bancel told BBC News he hoped the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccine could be made widely available in 2026 - or perhaps, 2025.
This could be a gamechanger for flu vaccines. They aren’t just using the current ones and mixing them together, this is an mRNA flu vaccine. That could theoretically allow them to update the mix of flu strains covered more quickly and easily, or possibly let them include even more strains the the current versions.
Thanks for pointing this out. I was wondering why I should care since I’m already getting the shots at the same visit, but this is good news.
At the very least, two shots is potentially two spots a little sore.
However some people won’t do them at the same time - my ex insisted my kids to it separately , with a few weeks in between. Of course she also gets a sore arm and occasionally minor symptoms for a day or two so maybe
Until something will go terribly wrong
Like what exactly? This is a story literally about a study, to make sure it’s safe and effective, and nothing went terribly wrong. Billions of people have gotten RNA vaccines now, the vast vast majority with no issues. Vaccines are one of the least riskiest things done in all of medicine.
RNA is produced by the metric crap load in every cell of your body from your own DNA all the time. It’s all quickly degraded inside your body after it’s made (or else your body would have no way to really regulate expression amounts of different genes), and RNA in an RNA vaccine is no exception. Your own cells translate the RNA into a viral protein, and then your immune system reacts to the viral protein, just like in many other vaccines. Any RNA injected is quickly destroyed by your body, but not before some protein is able to be made. This is way easier than making giant egg farms or finding ways to culture viruses en mass to make the proteins to inject or other things like that. And if you’ve ever had a live virus vaccine in the past (most have), guess what, that had RNA or even DNA in it in some cases as well!
Every virus you’ve ever been infected by in your life has led to the creation of viral RNA in your body, for the entire viral genome for each virus. The vaccines are just putting in RNA that codes for a single viral gene, so even less than in a real infection. Again it gets degraded pretty quickly like any RNA without a virus there to make more.
This is totally different from things like gene therapy or gene editing, which involve either injection of DNA with some kind of viral vector or modification of DNA.
No need to fear monger misunderstandings about what RNA is.
Hey man, I know something of that. I majored in biochemistry and now I am working somewhere near biotechnologies. mRNAs by themselves are good and very promising.
The way that I can see it, is that when mRNA vaccines prove the ultimate safety, they’ll stop regulating it and it will lower the standards of production. So it may either lead to either the thalidomide incident or monopolization that’s happening with GMO. Or maybe not, maybe we’ve learned our lessons. Nothing special to RNA, humans are shit
If you’re holding out for more than a sample size of several billion before deciding if an mRNA vaccine is safe, you’re not gonna get it, I don’t know what to tell you. Tylenol is more dangerous than the vast majority of vaccines, and the testing and standards for vaccines are more rigorous than they are for any medication.
Again, it’s a good story until something goes terribly wrong.
I also majored in biochemistry and have worked “somewhere near biotechnologies” since completing my degree, and am very disappointed with the FUD that you’re spreading here.
Like what exactly?