Ahmed Haji Essa

Dr. Dorset W. Trapnell & Dr. Mark A. Farmer

BIOL 1108
8/29/2022

Prompt: Why does Dr. Ted Ross think that he can prevent the flu?

Ross T. M., Hyesun Jang. (2021). Influence of the H1N1 influenza pandemic on the humoral
immune response to seasonal flu vaccines. PLOS ONE 16(10): e0258453.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258453

This article discusses how the H1N1 influenza virus quickly spread among the population, specifically the
population of individuals with weak immune systems in North America. However, when a vaccine was
created, it was meant to be distributed seasonally. Therefore, the effectiveness of seasonal influenza
vaccines drastically increased due to the H1N1 influenza virus. After some time, researchers proposed the
theory that the humoral response to trivalent seasonal influenza virus vaccinations was influenced by H1
HA's rapid antigenic flipping. But over time, the trivalent seasonal influenza virus vaccine started to work
well in producing antibodies with HAI activity to the vaccine's HA antigens. The overwhelming reactivity
of one vaccine component, however, may have a significant negative impact on the immune response to
other vaccine components.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, the scope of seasonal influenza vaccines may be increased; nevertheless,
the effects of abrupt antigenic shifts and vaccine interference need to be carefully examined. The
scientists implore that these results should not be taken as discouraging yearly immunizations. Primarily
with the hopes that the findings of this research may inspire future researchers to investigate potential
antigenic hierarchies among vaccine components and potential negative immune-interfering effects
during influenza virus injections.

Sung M-H, Shen Y, Handel A, Bahl J and Ross TM. (2021). Longitudinal Assessment of
Immune Responses to Repeated Annual Influenza Vaccination in a Human Cohort of
Adults and Teenagers. Front. Immunol. 12:642791. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.642791
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2021.642791/full
Vaccinations against the influenza virus at regular intervals are currently being studied to see how they
will alter the level of protection and how the flu will be prevented in the future. The efficiency of
vaccines was shown to be equivalent across people who had immunizations just for the current season
and those who received several injections throughout several seasons, suggesting that repeated
vaccinations may not have weakened antibody responses. One of this article's main focuses is how host
variables affect how strongly immune responses to vaccination are triggered. In this article, scientists
used a human population that included adults and teenagers to look at the higher-quality data on the
immune responses induced by vaccination and their relationships with host variables.
According to the researcher's study, when both adults and teenagers received vaccinations frequently over
the course of several years, their immune responses differed. Researchers, in this article, specifically
found a massive difference in immune responses in adults, mainly because it offered proof that your
body's health and health-related conditions affect the antibody responses to repeated vaccinations.