Vaccine Targeting Both Flu And Covid Starts Trials—As Scientists Test New Ways To Immunize People More Efficiently

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Topline

Pfizer and BioNTech have launched a clinical trial to test a combination vaccine targeting influenza and Covid-19, the companies announced on Thursday, one of several efforts to combine the two recommended shots as experts increasingly suggest yearly coronavirus boosters will be needed.

Pfizer and BioNTech launched trials of a combination Covid-Flu vaccine.

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Key Facts

The early-stage clinical trial will test a two-pronged vaccine combining Pfizer’s flu shot—currently in late-stage clinical trials—and the companies’ jointly-developed shot targeting BA.4 and BA.5 omicron variants of coronavirus.

The U.S.-based trial will evaluate the vaccine for safety, tolerability and the strength of immune response in around 180 people between the ages of 18 and 64, the companies said.

The first volunteer was given a dose of the vaccine this week, the companies said.

Both flu and Covid components are built using the mRNA platform underpinning the companies’ joint Covid vaccine.

Pfizer’s senior vice president and chief scientific officer of vaccine research and development Annaliesa Anderson said the “flexibility and manufacturing speed” of the technology during the Covid pandemic has shown it is “well-suited for other respiratory diseases.”

BioNTech co-founder and chief executive Dr. Ugur Sahin said the companies hope to provide a more “efficient way” for people to be immunized against two major diseases that regularly mutate around existing vaccines.

Key Background

Flu and Covid are major killers and significant drivers of ill health around the world. Both have clear and proven pandemic potential—flu was widely expected to be the cause of the next global outbreak before the virus behind Covid-19 emerged—and both mutate relatively swiftly, requiring frequent vaccine updates in order to stay protected. This shifting landscape leaves experts and pharmaceutical firms making educated guesses as to what strains to target in that season’s shot and this guesswork can leave notable gaps in the protection vaccines provide. The shots are ideal candidates for the mRNA technology rolled out during the pandemic, which introduces genetic material to prompt the body to make a safe part of the virus that it is then trained to respond to if encountered in the future, as it is more flexible and responsive than other vaccine technologies.

What To Watch For

Pfizer and BioNTech are not the only companies pushing ahead with a combination Covid-flu vaccine. Moderna, which uses the same kind of mRNA technology as Pfizer and BioNTech and was their main pandemic rival, is also testing its own mRNA flu shot and a shot combining this with its Covid booster vaccine. Novavax, which uses a more traditional style of vaccine technology, is also developing a combination shot. BioNTech’s Sahin said the Covid-flu trial will give the company more information on combining mRNA vaccines to address multiple pathogens, which he said will help guide its product pipeline in the future.

Tangent

Moderna is also testing a three-pronged shot to protect against RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), Covid-19 and influenza. All three are potentially serious respiratory infections and are driving a worrying surge of infections at the moment that experts fear will overwhelm hospitals. Young infants and the elderly are particularly susceptible to serious illness with RSV and children’s hospitals across the country are already struggling to manage the deluge. Moderna chief Stephane Bancel said the shot could possibly be ready by the fall of 2023.

Big Number

290,000 to 650,000. That’s about how many people worldwide are killed by the seasonal flu every year, according to the World Health Organization. It causes between 3 million and 5 million cases of severe illness. In the U.S., seasonal flu kills between 12,000 and 52,000 people each year, according to CDC estimates, sickening between 9 million and 41 million.