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With the efforts in mass vaccination against Covid in Spain, the pharmaceutical industry is already starting to think on influenza antigen that the population will have to be inoculated next winter. A vaccine that can be less effective than other years.
At the end of February, the World Health Organization (WHO) offers pharmaceutical companies the strains currently in circulation. From these, the industry develops antigens that will be inoculated next winter.
This year, influenza viruses circulated less due to hygiene measures and traffic restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, in addition to high vaccination rate.
In fact, in Spain, so far, 959 cases compared to 173,939 last year. Even worldwide, influenza activity remains lower than expected at this time of year.
With drastically reduced flu cases, the pharmaceutical industry is facing a problem: “The vaccine will be less likely to be effective against the flu that may occur next winter “, the industry sources explained to Invertia.
Development
The development of the flu vaccine for next season “will be the same as in other years.” As mentioned, the WHO supplies the most circulating strains at that time by the end of February. At the same time, pharmaceutical companies are developing what will be the antigen that will be inoculated next winter.
Specifically, the organization offers four stems (two type A and two type B), which are the ones that, in all probability, will circulate during the next season. “There may be one, two or even combinations between the identified strains,” said sources in the pharmaceutical sector.
It should be remembered that influenza vaccines “they are not perfect“It simply came to our notice then. Therefore, the efficiency never reaches 100% and is around 60%. And this year, the effectiveness may be even lower due to the reduced circulation of the virus.
Despite this, in the pharmaceutical industry they do not foresee shocks in this respect. After all, the WHO, through its surveillance centers, “determines which strains are circulating and, although there have been fewer cases this year, viruses have been detected.”
Generalized decline
general decline The circulation of influenza viruses has been observed worldwide. Despite this, its circulation continues to be monitored in all countries, now especially in the northern hemisphere, as we are in the seasonal flu season.
At this time, low levels of influenza activity persist, which could be caused by the control and social distancing measures that remain in place to control the Covid-19 pandemic, although other factors may have contributed.
From the Carlos III Institute of Health (ISCIII) explains that the health crisis has generated a disruption of healthcare and testing capacity in the WHO European region that negatively affected the reporting of epidemiological and virological data at the end of the 2019-20 season.
As the pandemic continues today, “the flu data presented must to be interpreted with caution, especially in terms of seasonal patterns, “they warn.