Scientists have developed a new influenza vaccine that may one day eliminate the need for seasonal flu shots. The new findings were published in the inaugural issue of mBio.

The current seasonal influenza vaccine is strain-specific, targeting the globular head of the hemaglutinin (HA) molecule on the surface of the influenza virus. This globular head is highly variable and constantly changing from strain to strain. Each flu season presents a different strain, making it necessary to adjust the vaccine each year.

Researchers developed a vaccine using HA without its globular head. Mice were injected with the vaccine and then following challenge were monitored for morbidity and mortality daily for 10 days. All of the mice vaccinated with the headless HA vaccine survived, while all unvaccinated mice died. Mount Sinai School of Medicine has submitted a patent application for this vaccine approach.

“Our results suggest that the response induced by this vaccine is potent enough to warrant further development toward a universal influenza virus vaccine,” said Peter Palese, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.. “With further development and testing, we predict that a single immunization will in the future offer a sufficient defense against several influenza epidemics.”