Universal and more effective flu vaccine the goal of new research

Scientists in Melbourne hope that deciphering what happens to a child’s immune system when they get hit with the flu for the first time will aid the development of a new vaccine.

Melbourne scientists are working to develop a more effective flu vaccine for kids by uncovering how the virus affects the immune system of young people.

With new research showing influenza can reprogram a child’s immune system, the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute is aiming to tease apart what happens to it when the flu hits for the first time.

Lead researcher Associate Professor Nigel Crawford, the institute’s head of infection and immunity research and director of SAEFVIC — the state paediatric surveillance unit for vaccine safety — said there was emerging evidence a person’s first exposure to flu helped ­dictate their lifelong susceptibility to the virus.

“There is real interest now, scientifically, about what that first exposure does to your immune system, and what that means for the ­future in terms of how you respond to infections and vaccinations,” he said.

“Early work is showing us that there is some sort of ­imprinting or reprogramming going on in your ­immune system that can ­have an impact on the ­response.

“This study is trying to find out what happens to the immune system the very first time you get that infection.”

Stella 3, gets set for her flu jab. Picture: David Caird

The study has been launched amid one of the deadliest flu seasons on ­record. Five Victorian children have died of the viral ­infection this year.

Already in 2019, 280 kids have been admitted to the Royal Children’s Hospital, a fourfold increase on 2018.

While children receive some protection after birth if their mother was immunised during pregnancy, that wanes from the age of six months.

Children need to receive two doses of the flu vaccine the first year they have it to ensure they are properly covered.

At least 60 children from Melbourne and Sydney will be recruited in the first stage of the study, to track their immune response to receiving the flu jab through a ­series of blood tests.

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Working with the Doherty Institute, the researchers will analyse the individual ingredients of the immune response to the virus and work out why some people are more prone to becoming seriously ill from the flu.

“We want to use this ­information about the immune response to that first infection to make better ­vaccines,” he said.

“A ­universal flu vaccine that gives broad and longer-lasting protection across all four strains — that is the goal.”

BATTLE TO PROTECT OUR KIDS

Five Victorian children have died this year after catching the flu

Another 280 young sufferers have been admitted to the Royal Children’s Hospital

Youngsters need two doses of the flu vaccine in the first year they have it, to ensure full protection

At least 60 children from Melbourne and Sydney will be recruited in the first stage of the study

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For more details about ­taking part in the institute’s child flu study, phone [phone] or email [e-mail]