News: 0175192007

  ARM Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

Bird Flu Fears Stoke the Race for an mRNA Flu Vaccine

(Friday October 04, 2024 @05:20PM (msmash) from the race-begins dept.)


Concern over potential human-to-human transmission of bird flu has risen after six Missouri healthcare workers developed mild respiratory symptoms following contact with a patient infected with H5N1. The CDC reports only the original patient has tested positive for the virus. Scientists are [1]ramping up efforts to develop mRNA vaccines against H5N1 , with researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and major pharmaceutical companies like Moderna, Pfizer, and GSK leading the charge. While mRNA technology offers rapid vaccine production, clinical trials have shown mixed results, particularly against influenza B strains. Wired adds:

> [...] Traditionally, flu vaccines contain inactivated viruses that are grown in hens' eggs. This works reasonably well, but it takes a long time to make such jabs, which means health authorities have to publish their predictions about which strains of flu will be circulating during the upcoming winter well in advance. If you could manufacture vaccines more quickly, you could make more accurate predictions nearer to flu season.

>

> Not only that, researchers hope that a single mRNA shot could one day target 20 or more strains of flu at once, relieving the need for some of this guesswork. Scher's colleagues are working on such a "universal" flu vaccine. With clinical trials ongoing, it's still early days. Sheena Cruickshank, an immunologist at the University of Manchester, has watched reports about emerging mRNA flu jabs with interest but says that questions remain. "We don't yet know how long-lasting the immunity they produce is," she says. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, concurs, though he notes that all flu jabs, regardless of how they are made, have a waning immunity problem -- your protection could decline by around 10 percent every month following injection.



[1] https://www.wired.com/story/wired-health-hub-the-quest-to-make-an-mrna-vaccine-for-flu/



Re: (Score:1)

by Chas ( 5144 )

Sure. Die of little things. Starvation, nutrient deficiencies, etc.

And hope to god that the shit making you sick can fix what's wrong with you.

Don't believe the hype (Score:1, Insightful)

by Konings ( 43693 )

Yes please, sign me up to take untested medication to help with my cold.

Yikes!

Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

by jhoegl ( 638955 )

Dont worry, nature doesnt care if you believe or dont. It does care if you got a vaccine though.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_death_rates_by_country [wikipedia.org]

[2]https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines/keyfacts.html [cdc.gov]

Logic of the insane "Companies only want to get richer off this!" meanwhile "privatize schools!" and "private companies should do this work!" (hint: you should look at the cost difference)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_death_rates_by_country

[2] https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines/keyfacts.html

Re: Don't believe the hype (Score:2)

by dknj ( 441802 )

Except in Japan which had a very low transmission rate before the Covid shots were released

Re: (Score:1)

by Seven Spirals ( 4924941 )

Sir that's extremely inconvenient of you to bring that up. That's hurting our narrative. We're trying to save lives here. Your truth telling is getting in the way of that. Please desist and see one of our doctored up "studies' that disprove whatever it is that you're reporting. :-P

Re: (Score:2, Troll)

by VeryFluffyBunny ( 5037285 )

You're more likely to die from a food allergy than a vaccine.

In other news, have you heard that the earth is spherical & orbits around the sun? Oh, & that the USA has successfully landed several manned missions on the moon? Oh, & Donald Trump didn't win the 2020 election; Biden won it fair & square?

That should keep you busy for a while ;)

Re: (Score:2)

by ArchieBunker ( 132337 )

The covid vaccine is one of the most tested and closely studied vaccines in history. Plus mRNA has was discovered in the 60s and research started in the 90s. [1]https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2... [jhu.edu]

[1] https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2021/the-long-history-of-mrna-vaccines

Good luck (Score:1)

by omnichad ( 1198475 )

I think it will be hard to do without collateral damage. Influenza is a very persistent virus that humanity tolerates very well. So there are possibly a lot of molecular mimicry risks where if you target the wrong protein, you're going to have a vaccine induced autoimmune disease. It sort of happened with the ACE2 receptor and COVID, but considering how widespread the virus itself was the side effects were more likely to happen from the real virus than a vaccine.

Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

by geekmux ( 1040042 )

> Is that article funded by big pharma?

What vaccine article, isn’t.

Re:The motivation is profit (Score:4, Informative)

by smooth wombat ( 796938 )

How dare companies try to find a way so people don't get sick or die. The outrage! We should let nature take its course and have [1]tens of millions die [wikipedia.org] from a simple cold. Right now only about 50,000 people die each year, let's crank those numbers up and really drive the economy into a tailspin.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu

Re: (Score:1)

by spookyinc ( 1659311 )

> How dare companies try to find a way so people don't get sick or die. The outrage! We should let nature take its course and have [1]tens of millions die [wikipedia.org] from a simple cold. Right now only about 50,000 people die each year, let's crank those numbers up and really drive the economy into a tailspin.

Umm, I think you have it backwards. Companies are in the game to make money. The pharma industry literally makes money from you being sick Seriously, take the rose tinted glasses off and have another look around.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu

Re: (Score:2)

by oumuamua ( 6173784 )

Bird flu jumping to humans and mutating for easy person to person transmission = another world-wide pandemic. They are wisely trying to get ahead of that. If it does explode the US government would likely cover the vaccine cost just like they did with covid. The rest of the world will have to fend for themselves. They get upset and will call it the virUSA and wonder if it was actually lab created.

Just Say No to mRNA (Score:1)

by JoeRandomHacker ( 983775 )

I'm no expert, but from what I understand of the way mRNA technology works, it is inherently dangerous. I would want significant, proven benefits before I would even consider taking on the risks. Anyone who tries to push anything without understanding and explaining the risks is not your friend.

Re: (Score:2)

by smooth wombat ( 796938 )

You don't understand shit. All you're doing is spouting the same lies which have been beaten down. You must be new to the trolling world. First day on the job?

mRNA technology has been around [1]for around 50 years [jhu.edu], longer than you've been on this planet. It's been used in [2]multiple applications [nih.gov] during that time.

Now go collect your vodka or however you're being paid seeing how Russian companies have to resort [3]to bartering [newsweek.com] because they don't have the money.

[1] https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2021/the-long-history-of-mrna-vaccines

[2] https://www.niaid.nih.gov/diseases-conditions/decades-making-mrna-covid-19-vaccines

[3] https://www.newsweek.com/russia-oranges-trade-barter-pakistan-1962512

Re: (Score:2)

by ArchieBunker ( 132337 )

> I'm no expert, but from what I understand

Good. Stop talking then.

Re: Just Say No to mRNA (Score:2)

by dknj ( 441802 )

Like the time you took wild guesses in slashdot comments? I guess rules for thee but not for me. You must have been the hit of parties during the plandemic

Re: Just Say No to mRNA (Score:2)

by dknj ( 441802 )

Related link: https://m.slashdot.org/thread/64835783

Re: (Score:1)

by Seven Spirals ( 4924941 )

Free speech really burns your ass, doesn't it? They'd never allow this in your Communist paradise, am I right? How dare someone speculate.

Betting pool on (Score:1)

by RightwingNutjob ( 1302813 )

1. How fast the 5G conspiracy theories get revived.

2. How fast the democrats will push to make it a mandatory condition of stepping outside your door.

3. Whether or not it actually works better for the regular ol flu than the shit they hand out now.

Discuss

Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

by jacks smirking reven ( 909048 )

#1 is the fault of a conservative media that revels in giving life to things like 5G conspriracies, they own that one.

> How fast the democrats will push to make it a mandatory condition of stepping outside your door.

Yeah ok, conservatives from small folks to right to the largest media figures told us for what, a year or two, that Federal mandates would be a thing and how any day now, how it didn't work and how there would an upcoming wave of side effects all the way to mass death.

None of this happened and they get to just brush past it and pretend they never said all those things with conviction, so are

Re: Betting pool on (Score:3)

by dknj ( 441802 )

But they did get to limit what drugs women can put in their body. So partial win??

Re: (Score:1)

by Seven Spirals ( 4924941 )

Yeah, like you conformist pro-Big-Brother, pro Big-Pharma, kool-aid drinkers didn't misjudge things from the start, too. Gimme a break.

Vaccines stop the spread: Early on, they said vaccines would stop COVID from spreading, but it turned out vaccinated people could still catch and spread it, especially with variants like Delta and Omicron.

Unvaccinated = superspreaders: The idea that unvaccinated people would keep the pandemic going and cause tons of variants didn’t really pan out. Both vaccinated

Re: (Score:3, Funny)

by VeryFluffyBunny ( 5037285 )

4. How fast the GOP will organise "flu parties."

Re: (Score:2)

by Rick Schumann ( 4662797 )

> 4. How fast the GOP will organise "flu parties."

Not 'troll'.

If the Marburg virus or Ebola virus started having human cases of them in the U.S., they'd have 'parties' to infect each other with those, too; call it 'evolution in action ' -- which is ironic as fuck, since most of them are 'creationists'.

Re: (Score:1)

by Seven Spirals ( 4924941 )

Ebola doesn't have a fucking 0.1% IFR, either. Folks will use their own judgement. *GASP* I know, right... can't have that.

Re: (Score:2)

by ArchieBunker ( 132337 )

Conservatives walking around with my body my choice signs in regards to vaccines is the most hypocritical shit ever. [1]https://www.npr.org/sections/h... [npr.org]

So does that count for abortions?

[1] https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/07/04/1109367458/my-body-my-choice-vaccines

Re: (Score:1)

by Seven Spirals ( 4924941 )

It does when you ask real people with real beliefs. Yes, it's possible to actually believe in body autonomy. All it requires is that you walk away from your partisan affiliations and think for yourself (GASP, I know right, clutch those pearls harder). I happen to believe that body autonomy means both. You cannot tell women they cannot abort a fetus in their own body and you cannot tell a refusenik to take a vaccine they don't want. Mind blowing eh?

Re: (Score:3)

by ArchieBunker ( 132337 )

> 2. How fast the democrats will push to make it a mandatory condition of stepping outside your door.

Do you have children in public schools? You must provide proof of vaccination before children can be enrolled. Nearly every employer in the medical field has vaccine requirements for employees. When you let religious nutjobs skip vaccines you get outbreaks, like this for example. [1]https://www.nyc.gov/assets/doh... [nyc.gov]

Hell in 2000 the CDC declared measles eliminated, thanks to vaccines of course. [2]https://www.cdc.gov/measles/ab... [cdc.gov]

[1] https://www.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/han/alert/2019/update-on-measles-outbreak-in-nyc-in-the-orthodox-jewish-community.pdf

[2] https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/history.html

Re: (Score:1)

by Seven Spirals ( 4924941 )

The Measles vaccine is a traditional vaccine, not an mRNA "vaccine". It prevents transmission and prevents illness whereas the CV19 vaccine from Pfizer (the most popular one) does neither. Also against Omnicron, for example, the Pfizer vaccine was around 40% effective. The Measles vaccine is 97% effective.

Re: (Score:1)

by Seven Spirals ( 4924941 )

Fact. You take vaccines for Tetanus, Measles, or HPV, or Smallpox and guess what!? You don't get the disease. Those are vaccines. Something you take that might kinda sorta maybe make it less bad if you're old or something is a therapeutic, at best.

Re: (Score:1)

by spookyinc ( 1659311 )

Fact: When is a vaccine not a vaccine? When you have to change the definition of the word vaccine to include your money making gene therapy.

Re: (Score:2)

by bill_mcgonigle ( 4333 ) *

Sometimes. Most vaccines are less than 90% effective.

You can look at per capita infection curves for all of these diseases and vaccines were introduced as they approached zero with little inflection of the curves. That's just the hard data.

Add in ethyl mercury sequestration and macrophage-mediated associated aluminum nanoparticle transport across the blood-brain barrier, SV-40 cancers, and the lack of PC-RCT's for modern vaccines with zero liability and the calculus isn't straightforward.

I went from an advo

Jumps to mammals ... (Score:2)

by kbahey ( 102895 )

The current strain of H5N1 jumps to mammals regularly.

For example, [1]dozens of tigers died in Vietnam [msn.com], and before that [2]seals in Patagonia [apnews.com].

It is only a matter of time before it infects humans in significant numbers.

Oh, and by the way, this is zoonosis at work, no lab leak crappy hypothesis...

[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/health-news/dozens-of-zoo-tigers-die-after-contracting-bird-flu-in-southern-vietnam/ar-AA1rGb0y?ocid=BingNewsSerp

[2] https://apnews.com/article/seals-bird-flu-deaths-oceans-80184a8793fbcc21fab01b1c90b0d71b

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
-- Albert Einstein

They laughed at Einstein. They laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they
also laughed at Bozo the Clown.
-- Carl Sagan