I second that we don’t really care about the flu. Setting aside the question of how much of a mistake that is, I’d just point to that we simply haven’t tried to throw extra money at, and remove regulatory barriers from, using mRNA tech to make a better flu vaccine that can be rapidly updated without needing to predict what strains will be common, months in advance, and may be able to include a lot more strains at once. We still haven’t committed to doing that or even made any significant public noises about it, now that we have so much more data on how well mRNA vaccines work.
That said: I hear Moderna is hoping to combine an annual flu vaccine with a covid booster, which is a great idea, but I hope that won’t be the only option for either. I stopped getting the conventional flu vaccine after about 20 consecutive years where I was sick for about 10 days after doing so. Since then (and before that) I’ve gotten the flu and, for me at least, the actual flu’s symptoms tend to be less severe than that. Covid has not given me confidence in Moderna’s and Pfizer’s ability or interest in properly calibrating dosing to minimize unnecessary vaccine side effects.
I second that we don’t really care about the flu. Setting aside the question of how much of a mistake that is, I’d just point to that we simply haven’t tried to throw extra money at, and remove regulatory barriers from, using mRNA tech to make a better flu vaccine that can be rapidly updated without needing to predict what strains will be common, months in advance, and may be able to include a lot more strains at once. We still haven’t committed to doing that or even made any significant public noises about it, now that we have so much more data on how well mRNA vaccines work.
That said: I hear Moderna is hoping to combine an annual flu vaccine with a covid booster, which is a great idea, but I hope that won’t be the only option for either. I stopped getting the conventional flu vaccine after about 20 consecutive years where I was sick for about 10 days after doing so. Since then (and before that) I’ve gotten the flu and, for me at least, the actual flu’s symptoms tend to be less severe than that. Covid has not given me confidence in Moderna’s and Pfizer’s ability or interest in properly calibrating dosing to minimize unnecessary vaccine side effects.
I’m somewhat optimistic that we could see a combined flu/covid/RSV/hMPV shot in 2022.