Are you up to date about current developments in influenza vaccines with the messenger RNA (mRNA) platform?

mRNA vaccines are being used to contain COVID-19, but still suffer from the critical limitation of mRNA instability and degradation, which is a major obstacle in the storage, distribution, and efficacy of the vaccine products.

European Immunization Week is marked across Europe every year in the final week of April. It aims to raise awareness of the importance of immunisation for the general health and well-being of the European and wider population.

RSV infection causes considerable illness in older adults. The efficacy and safety of an investigational bivalent RSV prefusion F protein-based (RSVpreF) vaccine in this population are unknown.

Whether vaccination during pregnancy could reduce the burden of RSV associated lower respiratory tract illness in newborns and infants is uncertain.

It’s estimated that half a million or more people around the world die of influenza each year. And many of these deaths could be prevented with a highly effective, widely used flu shot.

Ahead of European Immunisation Week (EIW), taking place from 23 to 29 April 2023, Isabel de la Mata -principal advisor for Health and Crisis Management at the European Commission- talks about the benefits of lifelong vaccination

With the World Immunization Week coming up, IFA has produced a study to deliver critical baseline data to help inform technical guidelines, as well as governmental and civil society dialogue and policy actions, to protect the health of LTC residents.

It provides an overview of the project results at the end of 2 years of collaborative work: the training tools and resources designed to support health professionals in their vaccine communication efforts and the advocacy campaigns.

Vaccines against different SARS-CoV-2 variants have been approved, but continued surveillance is needed to determine when the antigen composition of vaccines should be updated, together with clinical studies to assess vaccine efficacy.

The early lessons from the pandemic underlined that challenges to health systems and economies, including supply chain problems and vaccine hesitancy, could no longer be overcome by European Union Member States acting alone.

After a 1960s RSV vaccine was found to enhance disease in previously unexposed infants, development was put on hold. But structure-based design has led to effective RSV vaccines that now await approval.