• Question: Should everyone get the flu vaccine? how long does it take to make a new vaccine?

    Asked by 473drud32 to Anne, Florence, Mark, Neil, Sinead on 9 Nov 2015. This question was also asked by emily69, 342drud32, 653drud32.
    • Photo: Mark Collins

      Mark Collins answered on 9 Nov 2015:

      No, only certain groups would need the flu vaccine as those who would be at the most risk from the virus such as pregnant women or older people or if you have another serious medical condition. How long it takes, it takes a very long time and is incredibly expensive and there is no guarantee that the development you start will even become a final product that is available for patients! It can take between 12 and 15 years and cost in excess of $1 billion to get from the laboratory conception to patient delivery. And only as few of 1 or 2 in every 100 vaccines or drug products will complete this journey. It is very hard journey but this should be reassuring to patients and it means that any drug that has been approved for general release you can be sure has been thoroughly tested.

    • Photo: Sinead Balgobin

      Sinead Balgobin answered on 11 Nov 2015:

      It would be good if we could cure the flu with a vaccine, but it is a constantly evolving virus, so there are lots of different types. That means we should be careful not to overuse medicine, and since most of us have immune systems that are able to fight off the flu, we should protect the people who would be at the most risk. This includes small children, the elderly and pregnant women- if these people got the flu, it would be much more dangerous than if I did, as a 26 year old.

      Vaccines can take a very long time to make, and a lot of money too. From the first design, through testing to make sure it works and is safe it can take over 15 years- and lots of possible vaccines never make it to the end because they just aren’t good enough to meet our strict rules. Lots of people’s time and hard work goes into making sure we have made the absolute best medicine that we can.

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