Abstract
Influenza virus infection causes seasonal epidemics and occasional pandemics, leading to huge morbidity and mortality worldwide. Vaccination against influenza is needed annually as protection from constantly mutating strains is required. Groups at high risk of poor outcomes include the elderly, the very young, pregnant women and those with chronic health conditions. However, vaccine effectiveness in the elderly is generally poor due to immunosenescence and may be altered due to “original antigenic sin”. Strategies to overcome these challenges in the elderly include high-dose or adjuvant vaccines. Other options include vaccinating healthcare workers and children as this reduces community-level influenza transmission. Current guidelines in the UK are that young children receive a live attenuated nasal spray vaccine, adults aged >65 years receive an adjuvanted trivalent inactivated vaccine and adults aged <65 years with comorbidities receive a quadrivalent inactivated vaccine. The goal of a universal influenza vaccine targeting conserved regions of the virus and avoiding the need for annual vaccination is edging closer with early-phase trials under way.
Abstract
To protect the elderly from influenza, multiple strategies to overcome immunosenescence need to be utilised, such as improving vaccine efficacy, indirect protection via vaccinating children and healthcare workers, and developing a universal vaccine https://bit.ly/30KXzYn
Footnotes
Provenance: Submitted article, peer reviewed
Conflict of interest: A.R. Tanner has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: R.B. Dorey has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: N.J. Brendish has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: T.W. Clark reports personal fees from BioMerieux and BioFire LLC, Synairgen Research Ltd, Cidara Therapeutics and Janssen; non-financial support from BioMerieux and BioFire LLC; personal fees and other support from Roche, and grants from NIHR, outside the submitted work.
Support statement: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. This report is independent research supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Tristan W. Clark, PDF 2016-09-061). The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the National Health Service, the National Institute for Health Research or the Department of Health. N.J. Brendish is supported by a NIHR Clinical Lecturer post.
- Received August 7, 2020.
- Accepted October 3, 2020.
- Copyright ©ERS 2021.
This article is open access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Licence 4.0.