Despite the ethics that surrounds animal studies these are essential for pre clinical for new medications and vaccines. Doing away with them entire will slow vaccine and drug development .

This is early but encouraging evidence that mRNA flu vaccines may offer a real step forward especially against notoriously slippery A strains like H3N2. We’re not talking about a universal flu vaccine yet, but the platform gives us tools we simply didn’t have before.
The paper is worth read.

The mRNA platform removes long-standing constraints of egg-based flu vaccine production including slow timelines and egg-adaptive mutations that often degrade antigenic match. In theory, this tech could allow us to update flu vaccines faster and more precisely, esp when late-season drift occurs.

Safety & reactogenicity looked as expected for mRNA platforms. Local and systemic reactions were more common in the mRNA group (pain, fatigue, headache, low-grade fever), but mostly mild to moderate & short-lived.
No myocarditis or pericarditis observed. Serious AEs were rare and similar bw groups.

This is notable: traditional flu vaccines generate modest T-cell immunity. The more robust cellular responses seen here could matter for durability and breadth of protection, especially in drift-heavy years.

Still, the A-strain performance matters because H3N2 is historically the troublemaker responsible for severe seasons.
On immunogenicity, the mRNA vaccine produced higher Ab titers for A strains and stronger CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses starting 1week post-vaccination & persisting to 6 months.

The advantage was driven by stronger protection against A/H3N2 and A/H1N1, the dominant strains that season. Virtually no influenza B circulated, so the study couldn’t adequately assess B-strain protection a limitation of the season, not the vaccine.

The mRNA vaxx showed 34.5% superior relative efficacy compared w the standard vaccine (57 cases vs. 87 cases). That’s not “34% effectiveness,” but a 34% improvement over the existing licensed product. Given that typical flu VE ranges anywhere from 10–60% depending on the year, this is progress.

The primary question:
Can an mRNA flu vaccine match or outperform our current vaccines at preventing lab-confirmed influenza illness?
The answer is an emphatic yes. Look at the separation of those curves

Flu still causes substantial annual illness and death.
18,476 adults (18–64 y) were randomized across the U.S., South Africa, and the Philippines during the 2022–23 flu season. Participants received either the mRNA flu vaccine or a standard licensed quadrivalent inactivated vaccine.

www.gavi.org/vaccineswork...

We used Cefiderocol though MIC was borderline and worked with the surgeons to try and get source control. Unfortunately this was not enough to prevent demise from from this infection.

I do and she's a great science Communicator.Tha was about a preclinical study of a novel antibiotic that is years away from licensing for human use. Sadly.

We really are not exaggerating when we say that sometimes we run out of options to treat these infections. In the U.S., more than 2.8 million antimicrobial-resistant infections occur each year. More than 35,000 people die as a result. globally AMR cause 1.3 million deaths every year.