From Newsgroup: talk.origins

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/influenza-vaccines/who-s-assessment-shows-improved-flu-vaccines-could-save-6-million-lives

The problem is that these improved vaccines do not exist, and the
current vaccine missed the K strain and is not expected to be very
effective against the flu in the current flu season.

If we had better vaccines that could be effective against a wide range
of influenza strains they estimate that it could save 6 million lives by
2050. mRNA vaccines were found to be more effective than the standard
vaccine last season because last year they also missed one of the
influenza strains infecting people in the standard vaccine. mRNA
vaccines are not what WHO needs. They need a vaccine against highly
conserved sequences within the influenza virus genome that can produce antigens for the immune response to detect. Just any highly conserved
amino acid sequence will not do. If the sequence is internal in the
protein and not accessible to antibodies, it has to be made into a
detectable antigen by the human immune response that chops up foreign
proteins into peptides that can be detected.

The major H and N antigens are highly variable in sequence and have
evolved to evade our immune response. About the best that we can do is
make mRNA vaccines to the viral sequence that is currently infecting the population.

Ron Okimoto

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From Newsgroup: talk.origins

On 2/4/2026 11:18 AM, RonO wrote:

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/influenza-vaccines/who-s-assessment-shows- improved-flu-vaccines-could-save-6-million-lives

The problem is that these improved vaccines do not exist, and the
current vaccine missed the K strain and is not expected to be very
effective against the flu in the current flu season.

If we had better vaccines that could be effective against a wide range
of influenza strains they estimate that it could save 6 million lives by 2050.-a mRNA vaccines were found to be more effective than the standard vaccine last season because last year they also missed one of the
influenza strains infecting people in the standard vaccine.-a mRNA
vaccines are not what WHO needs.-a They need a vaccine against highly conserved sequences within the influenza virus genome that can produce antigens for the immune response to detect.-a Just any highly conserved amino acid sequence will not do.-a If the sequence is internal in the protein and not accessible to antibodies, it has to be made into a detectable antigen by the human immune response that chops up foreign proteins into peptides that can be detected.

The major H and N antigens are highly variable in sequence and have
evolved to evade our immune response.-a About the best that we can do is make mRNA vaccines to the viral sequence that is currently infecting the population.

Ron Okimoto

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fda-declines-review-modernas-mrna-flu-shot-rcna258436

FDA has refused to review Moderna's mRNA flu vaccine even though it
performed better (was more effective) than the standard flu vaccine in
use at the time of the trial. Kennedy doesn't like mRNA vaccines, and
would rather have more people become severely ill and die of influenza
than demonstrate that he is wrong.

The advantage that mRNA vaccines have over the current flu vaccines is
that the mRNA vaccines can be made to match the virus that is actually infecting people. The standard vaccine has missed matching the virus accounting for the most infections for the last two years. At the time
of the mRNA trial the standard vaccine had missed matching the virus accounting for most of the hospitalizations, but it did match the virus accounting for most of the rest of the hospitalizations. My take is
that was the only reason that the mRNA vaccine was only 26% more
effective than the standard vaccine. Covid taught us that mRNA vaccines
could also be polyvalent and can be produced against more than one
sequence to improve efficacy.

Ron Okimoto

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From Newsgroup: talk.origins

On 2/4/2026 11:18 AM, RonO wrote:

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/influenza-vaccines/who-s-assessment-shows- improved-flu-vaccines-could-save-6-million-lives

The problem is that these improved vaccines do not exist, and the
current vaccine missed the K strain and is not expected to be very
effective against the flu in the current flu season.

If we had better vaccines that could be effective against a wide range
of influenza strains they estimate that it could save 6 million lives by 2050.-a mRNA vaccines were found to be more effective than the standard vaccine last season because last year they also missed one of the
influenza strains infecting people in the standard vaccine.-a mRNA
vaccines are not what WHO needs.-a They need a vaccine against highly conserved sequences within the influenza virus genome that can produce antigens for the immune response to detect.-a Just any highly conserved amino acid sequence will not do.-a If the sequence is internal in the protein and not accessible to antibodies, it has to be made into a detectable antigen by the human immune response that chops up foreign proteins into peptides that can be detected.

The major H and N antigens are highly variable in sequence and have
evolved to evade our immune response.-a About the best that we can do is make mRNA vaccines to the viral sequence that is currently infecting the population.

Ron Okimoto

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/influenza-general/cdc-reports-6-more-child-deaths-flu-virus-levels-stay-moderate-high

Infant mortality due to the flu is supposed to be at a record rate for
this time in the flu season 66 reported infant deaths. 19,000 flu
deaths over all so far. Infant mortality is usually low. Last season
it hit 289 for the 2024-2025 season (a 15 year high), most of that
mortality was unvaccinated, but I do not know what the vaccination rate
was and how that would affect the numbers.

Infection rates are still considered to be high in most regions when for
the last couple weeks the CDC was claiming that it seemed to be leveling
off.

Ron Okimoto

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