Towards a small revolution in flu vaccines. This Tuesday, May 21, the Academy of Medicine showed its support for a recommendation issued by the World Health Organization, regarding a change in the composition of the pharmaceutical product.
The Academy hopes that, “starting with the next vaccination campaign,” patients will be injected with so-called “trivalent” vaccines. But what are we talking about?
If we commonly talk about the flu vaccine, the pharmaceutical products marketed in France actually protect against four strains of the virus: an A/(H1N1) strain, an A/(H3N2) strain and two B strains (Victoria and Yamagata). That is why we talk about the so-called “tetravalent” vaccines.
A tension stifled by barrier gestures
The change: the next vaccines will no longer be directed against the Yamagata strain, whose consideration the WHO has requested since 2012. The reason is simple: “This virus has disappeared from the planet,” as he explains to BFMTV .com. Bruno Lina, professor of virology at the Lyon University Hospital.
In the winter of 2020, as the world fought the Covid-19 pandemic, health measures contributed to collapsing the circulation of the flu virus. Confinement, masks, curfew… The measures stopped the number of cases that winter and allowed the apparent eradication of the strain in question.
“Since 2020, global surveillance has only detected about fifty cases of the virus, most of which are due to vaccination with live vaccines,” says Bruno Lina, emphasizing that these “live” vaccines intended for children are not used in France.
Since the strain has disappeared, it is no longer necessary to protect yourself from it. “This is not a step backwards. “We are adapting the composition of the vaccines to the circulation of the viruses so that they are as close as possible to the needs,” she insists.
Regulatory restrictions
Although the WHO issued its recommendation several months ago, the change should not happen overnight. To bring this new formula to market, pharmaceutical laboratories must submit files to the regulatory authorities.
In the case of France, it will be necessary to obtain approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM). But the application of this change starting in October seems complicated and therefore we would have to wait for the next campaign. In the United States, this change is already applicable.
Pending administrative issues being resolved, the current vaccine is not in doubt. It remains effective, safe and necessary, especially for the most vulnerable. But change will still be necessary in the coming years.
“With a bit of bad luck, we could imagine that the virus would circulate again even if it had disappeared, because we would have continued using the live vaccine,” warns the virologist. Even with a low probability: prevention is better than cure.
Source: BFM TV
