US institute developing universal vaccine

'There is a need to develop a new vaccine every year to deal with different types of virus strains'

The world is moving towards developing a universal influenza vaccine that protects against multiple viral subtypes. Early stage-I trials are being conducted in this regard in some institutes across the world, according to Rafi Ahmed, director of the US-based Emory Vaccine Center.

According to Ahmed, the effectiveness of current vaccine that is available to tackle the swine flu outbreak is gradually declining to an extent of 30-40 per cent as the strains keep changing. Consequently, we have to develop a new vaccine every year to deal with different types of virus strains.

“Our goal is to develop a universal vaccine that can provide a good coverage against the multiple viruses so that we do not have to develop a new vaccine every year,” he told mediapersons here on Tuesday.

In this regard, he cited the Emory Vaccine Center's initiative to develop the universal influenza vaccine, which was bringing promising initial development results. Many other institutions across the world were also engaged in this research. "There are early Stage-I trials being conducted in some places. Within 10 years, we might have something better," he said.

Bharat Biotech chairman and managing director, Krishna Ella, said his company had to destroy its swine vaccine stocks as they had short shelf life of just one year.

Stating that the swine flu outbreak this time was worse than what we had witnessed five years ago, Ella said Bharat Biotech was now pursuing a "Vaccine Adjuvant" programme, which would enhance the vaccine immune capability manifold. “It is an ambitious programme and we hope to unveil details in the course of time,” he added.