Why vaccine-makers fear flu jabs may fail this winter
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Fears are growing that the NHS will be overwhelmed this winter as vaccine makers warn that flu jabs may not prove effective.
Influenza vaccines are “typically formulated to protect against several strains of the virus”, explained The Independent. But global influenza surveillance conducted through the World Health
Organization (WHO) has been disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in a lack of data on which flu variants are likely to pose the greatest threats in the coming months.
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The UN health agency issued advice in February on what to include in this year’s flu vaccines for countries in the northern hemisphere. But according to The Telegraph’s science editor Sarah
Knapton, “vaccine makers say that global genetic sequencing of flu had dropped by up to 94% in the months preceding the decision”, as labs were repurposed to sequence Covid data.
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