The quest for a universal vaccine against influenza

Seasonal influenza occurs all over the world with an annual global attack rate estimated at 5 – 10% in adults and 20 – 30% in children, and causes about three to five million cases of severe illness and 250,000 to 500,000 deaths. The most effective way to prevent the disease or severe outcome is vaccination. However, due to the unpredictable and highly mutable nature of the influenza virus, current vaccines only offer limited protection against new variants and need to be administered annually. To overcome these weaknesses, a consortium of European experts has joint forces in the EDUFLUVAC project, which has been awarded a grant of € 4.5 million by the European Commision to develop a broad-spectrum, long-lasting vaccine against influenza.

Further information: cordis.europa.eu