A single vaccine has shown that it protects people from both Sars-Cov-2 and influenza viruses-and with a higher effectiveness than vaccines that only aim or the other, the pharmaceutical company Moderna has announced.

Moderna, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, announced at the beginning of this month that it had successfully completed the phase III clinic test for the medication, which-like the company's pioneering COVID-19 vaccines-is based on mRNA. In an explanation to his investors, Moderna said that the vaccine was more effective to protect immunity in adults over 50 than competing flu and covid 19 vaccinations.

Moderna is now planning to apply for the admission of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to bring the vaccine onto the market.

combination vaccines can have significant health benefits, but are often time -consuming and expensive in development. Moderna's latest quick success shows that RNA can help to overcome some of these difficulties, says James Thaventhiran, clinical immunologist at the University of Cambridge, Great Britain. "This is a great example of why the technology is exciting," he says, adding that the combination vaccines using mRNA are "only the beginning" for RNA technology.

the RNA effect

Vaccinations help people build immunity against an illness by their immune cells to an antigen, e.g. B. a protein, a snippet of DNA or even a whole pathogenic organism that was inactivated. If the real pathogen appears, the immune system can quickly recognize the threat and resist.

The creation of antigens is a difficult process, and the combination of different antigens in a vaccine increases its complexity. "It sounds like it should be so simple, right? "But it is actually much more complicated than the development of individual components."

The chemical components that make up individual target vaccines can sometimes react with each other when they are combined and thus take the risk that the individual medication is less effective. However, mRNA-based vaccines do not struggle with such an obstacle, since the drug components tend to be the same for various antigens.

mRNA is a molecule made of nucleic acids, and its main function is to tell the cells which proteins are to be manufactured. MRNA-based vaccines inject mRNA in cells to create copies of antigens that the immune system is supposed to see. As a result, a strong immune reaction is created based on pharmaceutical components that do not compete with each other - even if they aim for different pathogens.

That could explain why the risk that combination vaccines are ineffective, "clear" is not a problem with the new Covid Influenza vaccine, says Thaventhiran, since the shot seems to increase immunity more than individual vaccinations.

The code of the vaccine can also be changed quickly to keep a step step by developing variants. One of the problems with current non-MRNA influza vaccines is that antigen is grown in chicken eggs, a process that takes six months. During this time, the virus can mutate and change. In contrast, it takes "with RNA literally to create a new variant," says Drew Weissman, an immunologist at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Modern MRNA immunization

researchers have tested the border for the number of antigen instructions that they can fit in an MRNA vaccine; A group has packed mrNA instructions for all 20 variants of the influenza in a lipid layer. Moderna hopes that Respiratory Synzy Virus (RSV) -caused the cold-like symptoms-to add to his current Covid Influenza couple as a third party.

For most people, the FDA approval of the Moderna shot means "a visit to the pharmacy," says Weissman. "A vaccination will be enough to protect it from both the flu and from covid."

The Covid 19-Booster recording has decreased in the United States since the first rounds of vaccination. According to the American centers for epidemics control and prevention, around 47% of adults have received flu vaccination by the beginning of this year. The combination of vaccinations could help ensure that more people are protected from Covid-19, says Miller.

and with regard to the future, mRNA combination vaccines could help reduce the stress of vaccinations for parents of young children. Infants are currently the primary target groups of the available combination vaccines, but still receive several vaccination groups in the first years of life. "Parents would be enthusiastic" to reduce the number of shots that their children have to get, says Weissman. Only a few shots - which could be administered at the same time - would also help to reduce this burden on vaccinations in rural communities in low -income countries.

In order to be able to expand these advantages outside of countries with high incomes, researchers have to find out how they can deal with the sensitive nature of mRNA, says Thaventhiran. Part of the challenge in the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines was to keep the cans frozen to protect the mRNA from breakdown.

Overall, the development of mRNA combination vaccines is proof that mRNA has a positive future, says Weissman. "It's no coincidence."