New, stripped-down flu vaccine might work better, study finds

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

A new flu vaccine is made out of self-assembling nanoparticles.

By Maggie Fox, Senior Writer, NBC News

Researchers have developed a “stripped down” synthetic flu vaccine that they believe will not only work better than current vaccines, but might last longer, too -- saving people from having to get a fresh flu shot every year.

They say it’s the first step toward a new generation of influenza vaccines, designed entirely in the lab, using nanoparticles instead of the decades-old approach that uses chicken eggs. The nanoparticles assemble themselves into an imposter of the flu virus -- one that seems to excite the immune system far more than the real thing.

“This is, I believe, an important advance,” says Dr. Tony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, where the research was done.

Current flu vaccines are clunky at best. Most are still grown in eggs, an uncertain technology that takes months. Entire factories full of vaccine can be shut down because of contamination. Researchers have figured out how to make synthetic versions of the flu virus to use as a basis for the vaccine, but many still use real viruses, either killed or weakened so they don’t make people sick.

And it’s never certain from one year to the next how well the vaccine will work. No one is precisely sure why, but the virus mutates every year, and a variety of strains circulate at any given time. The result is that some years the vaccine protects people well, and in others, it doesn’t.

For instance, this past season’s influenza vaccine reduced the chances of illness by just 9 percent in people older than 65, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, and reduced illness for the population as a whole by 56 percent.

And then every few years, a new strain pops up to infect people. Health officials are currently keeping a wary eye on two strains of bird flu, H5N1 and H7N9, either of which could mutate just a bit more to cause a pandemic. (They Must insert the basis for fear in their article, of which, the “pandemic” has not occurred the last several times they announced it.  This is in an effort to get people to run out and get the vaccine, inspite of its poor results.  And we wonder why there are so many health concerns when you continue to give large populations of people a single solution that does not fit everyone.  This is the basis for side-effects)

The new vaccine uses a key part of the flu virus, called hemagglutinin, which gives flu the “H” in its name.  Dr. Gary Nabel, who was at NIAID at the time, fused a bit of hemagglutinin to a piece of a compound called ferritin. Ferritin naturally makes itself into little nanoparticles, and the result was a nano-sized spiky ball that looked a lot like a natural bit of hemagglutinin.

Nabel says it’s a stripped-down version of flu virus that the immune system recognizes even better than it does real flu. Tests on animals showed the nanoparticles caused the body to produce 10 times as many virus-fighting antibodies as the current seasonal flu vaccine, Nabel’s team reports in the journal Nature.

“They look like flu. They react with antibodies like flu,” Nabel, who now works for vaccine maker Sanofi, said in a telephone interview.

The vaccine protected ferrets against H1N1 flu viruses, an H3 flu virus and an influenza B virus, too. Ferrets are the animals that react most like humans to flu.

Now researchers are working to make a version that can be tested in people.

Nabel thinks the vaccine will provide broader immunity than current vaccines, as well as a stronger immune response. But humans have unique immune systems and it’s not yet clear how it will work in people.

It may also speed up the convoluted process for making vaccines, which starts with growing the virus in the lab, something that can take months. “We don’t need the virus to replicate. We just put the gene into a cell and make the particle. It is rather an amazing process,” Nabel says.

“In theory it could be very fast.” If it takes three months now to make a “seed” virus for a vaccine, the new process would only take a week or two, he estimates.

It took months to make and roll out vaccine against H1N1 swine flu when it first broke out in 2009 and thousands of people died during the delay. CDC doesn’t count how many adults die from flu each year, because it’s so variable -- anywhere from 4,000 to 49,000 a year. (And yet, wouldn’t this be a good number to be calculating, IF they claim things are a pandemic?  Unless, just the concept or threat of it being pandemic is enough to create the fear they want everyone to have so they will run to get the vaccine with its limited success and its many different toxic ingredients found in the vaccines being injected into people who are usually already immune-compromised.  Smart, very smart)

 

The new technology might not just work against flu. “This is a platform that could be used for other viruses,” Nabel said. That could include the AIDS virus or herpes, or even coronaviruses like the new MERS virus that has killed more than 20 people in Saudi Arabia and other middle east countries. (I’m curious how they are able to identify a brand new strain of a virus so quickly, put a name on it and then take so much time, energy and money to develop a vaccine that, like last year’s vaccine, was only successful in 9 percent of people over age 65.  And then they will make us feel compelled to run and get this newest vaccine in an effort to feel safe of the potential “pandemic” that awaits all of us.) 

 

Fauci said in theory, a vaccine made from this new technology could last longer than the current seasonal flu vaccine. “To me, this is an important step toward the development of a universal flu vaccine,” Fauci said. “The definition of a universal flu vaccine is it covers wide range (of virus strains) and you wouldn’t necessarily need to get a new one each year.” (Now on the surface, this seems like good research and a good direction to go in…creating a “universal flu vaccine.” Except, this requires everyone to go get this new unknown technology injected into and yet no one is talking about how to strengthen people’s immune systems so they do not get the flu, like myself every year, without getting any vaccines.  What a novel concept) 

 

Dr. John Treanor, a flu vaccine researcher at the University of Rochester Medical Center, said the approach resembled some newer-generation vaccines that use synthetic technology and that have been shown to work in people.  “It certainly is a very technically advanced approach,” said Treanor, who was not involved in the research.

Dr. Huntoon’s Perspective

Throughout, I stated, within the context of the article my immediate perspective.  In conclusion to this, science has its part in researching and helping to discover mechanisms and solutions for different problems.  Unfortunately, they continue to put profits first and true solutions somewhere after profits.  What I fail to grasp is why researchers are not looking for underlying causes of these immune system weaknesses that allow a virus to get in (necessary to developing an immune response) and then replicate faster than the immune system can keep up (the real problem) leading to the symptom response.  Why are researchers not looking to support creating a strong immune system by recommending high quality food with high quality nutrients that act as building blocks to support strengthening your immune system?  Why does no one talk about this?  Simply, because there is no real money to be made by asking people to eat real food.  So in an effort to take that solution away from the consumer, they are genetically modifying the food we consume and the government is fully behind that process.  Why?  The government supports this because they can make a lot of money.  And their solution will only lead to more problems and more false solutions going forward.

Dr. Huntoon’s Solution

 

Every week I offer a FREE Health Care Class designed to teach you what you need to know to support your health.  I have a specific class during the month of September which is called How To Build A Strong Immune System and is offered 2 weeks in a row.  Every week I have a radio show that airs on 3 different days on 5 different radio stations called When Your Health Matters, where I discuss things you can do to overcome your health concerns and how to support yourself to be healthy.  I have a book entitled, When Your Health Matters: Using Your Body’s Natural Rhythms To Restore Your Health where chapter 9 is devoted to helping you build a strong immune system.  And in each instance, regardless of the form of communication, I speak about specific nutrients designed to repair, restore, support and replenish your immune system to allow you to be like myself, no vaccines and no sicknesses either.  You may choose to look into that as a solution instead of injecting yourself with all sorts of chemicals and reduced strains of viruses being put into your system, bypassing your normal immune system stimulation, in an effort to strengthen your immune system. 

 

Something to consider: Do it by working with nature, or do it by working with science designed to create large amounts of profit at your expense.  The choice is certainly yours.

 

Dr. Huntoon has a single mission:

To support as many people as possible in their quest for health and enable them to improve and maintain their health to the highest level possible, while educating them about the benefits of Chiropractic, Natural Healthcare and Holistic Living, so they in turn can teach others to support us having a healthy community.

Your Choice

• Continue doing the same thing and nothing changes or it may get worse

OR

• Try something different and get a different result that makes you happier and healthier.