Vaccine experiments have begun in St. Louis on kids between the ages of 9 and 17. The nasal flu vaccine experiments will take place at the Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit site. The experiments are funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and are expected to be completed in just under one year.
“We are hopeful that newer kinds of influenza vaccines, such as the candidate being tested in this trial, will provide protection even if their components do not precisely match the currently circulating influenza virus strains,” Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the NIAID director, said in a press release.
The flu vaccine is now recommended for kids over 6-months in age. However, nasal spray versions are recommended for kids over two.
The experiment requires that 50% of the kids receive a real nasal flu vaccine, while the others will receive an inactive saline solution.
All participants will recieve a intramuscular injection of a licensed, quadrivalent seasonal influenza vaccine.
The study aims to discover if the combination of vaccines increases immunity to the flu.
The issue, of course, is that the flu vaccine is a perennial failure. Pharmaceutical companies are rushing to find ways to improve the dismal numbers.
FluGen was founded in 2007 “in response to the need for better methods of preventing influenza infections,” the company wrote on its website.
Its hard to imagine how many parents would sign away their kids for drug experiments, though, it doesn’t say if they are being compensated.