tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Clin Infect Dis
. 2022 May 24;ciac400.
doi: 10.1093/cid/ciac400. Online ahead of print.
How drivers of seasonality in respiratory infections may impact vaccine strategy: a case study in how COVID-19 may help us solve one of influenza's biggest challenges
Eric Lofgren[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Elena N Naumova[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Jack Gorski[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Yuri Naumov[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Nina H Fefferman[SUP] 5 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Vaccines against seasonal infections like influenza offer a recurring testbed, encompassing challenges in design, implementation, and uptake to combat a both familiar and ever-shifting threat. One of the pervading mysteries of influenza epidemiology is what causes the distinctive seasonal outbreak pattern. Proposed theories each suggesting different paths forwards in being able to tailor precision vaccines and/or deploy them most effectively. One of the greatest challenges in contrasting and supporting these theories is, of course, that there is no means by which to actually test them. In this communication we revisit theories and explore how the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic might provide a unique opportunity to better understand the global circulation of respiratory infections. We discuss how vaccine strategies may be targeted and improved by both isolating drivers and understanding the immunological consequences of seasonality, and how these insights about influenza vaccines may generalize to vaccines for other seasonal respiratory infections.
Keywords: Covid-19; influenza; influenza seasonality; respiratory disease; vaccines.
. 2022 May 24;ciac400.
doi: 10.1093/cid/ciac400. Online ahead of print.
How drivers of seasonality in respiratory infections may impact vaccine strategy: a case study in how COVID-19 may help us solve one of influenza's biggest challenges
Eric Lofgren[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Elena N Naumova[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Jack Gorski[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Yuri Naumov[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Nina H Fefferman[SUP] 5 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 35607766
- DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciac400
Abstract
Vaccines against seasonal infections like influenza offer a recurring testbed, encompassing challenges in design, implementation, and uptake to combat a both familiar and ever-shifting threat. One of the pervading mysteries of influenza epidemiology is what causes the distinctive seasonal outbreak pattern. Proposed theories each suggesting different paths forwards in being able to tailor precision vaccines and/or deploy them most effectively. One of the greatest challenges in contrasting and supporting these theories is, of course, that there is no means by which to actually test them. In this communication we revisit theories and explore how the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic might provide a unique opportunity to better understand the global circulation of respiratory infections. We discuss how vaccine strategies may be targeted and improved by both isolating drivers and understanding the immunological consequences of seasonality, and how these insights about influenza vaccines may generalize to vaccines for other seasonal respiratory infections.
Keywords: Covid-19; influenza; influenza seasonality; respiratory disease; vaccines.