Researchers Developing Single Vaccine to Protect Against Flu, Colds, and Coughs

A team at Stanford University are testing a ‘universal vaccine’ which they say could provide protection against colds, coughs, and flu.

Unlike usual vaccines, the new universal vaccine mimics the way immune cells communicate. This enables the vaccine to protect against multiple types of infections, rather than just one.

The vaccine is administered as a nasal spray. Once taken, the vaccine leaves white blood cells in the lungs, where they stay on alert while waiting for any form of infection.
When tested on mice, the researchers found the vaccine remained effective for three months, as detailed in the journal Science.

The vaccine was shown in mice to protect against a range of respiratory viruses, bacteria which causes sepsis and even house dust mites. If developed for humans, it could replace multiple winter jabs and may offer defence against new pandemic threats.

‘I think what we have is a universal vaccine against diverse respiratory threats,’ Dr Bali Pulendran, director of the Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection at Stanford Medicine and lead author of the study, said.

‘Imagine getting a nasal spray in the fall months that protects you from all respiratory viruses including Covid-19, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus and the common cold, as well as bacterial pneumonia and early spring allergens. That would transform medical practice.’

Dr Pulendran said two doses could be sufficient for people and estimated that, depending on funding, it might be available within the next five to seven years.

Dr Pulendran added: “This vaccine, what we term a universal vaccine, elicits a far broader response that is protective against not just the flu virus, not just the Covid virus, not just the common cold virus, but against virtually all viruses, and as many different bacteria as we’ve tested, and even allergens.

“The principle by which this vaccine works is a radical departure from the principle by which all vaccines have worked so far.”

The research team now needs to carry out human trials of the vaccine.