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Review
. 2024 Dec 31;20(1):2336357.
doi: 10.1080/21645515.2024.2336357. Epub 2024 Apr 15.

Seasonal influenza vaccine performance and the potential benefits of mRNA vaccines

Colin A Russell  1 , Ron A M Fouchier  2 , Parinaz Ghaswalla  3 , Yoonyoung Park  3 , Nevena Vicic  3 , Jintanat Ananworanich  3 , Raffael Nachbagauer  3 , Deborah Rudin  3
Affiliations
Review

Seasonal influenza vaccine performance and the potential benefits of mRNA vaccines

Colin A Russell et al. Hum Vaccin Immunother. .

Abstract

Influenza remains a public health threat, partly due to suboptimal effectiveness of vaccines. One factor impacting vaccine effectiveness is strain mismatch, occurring when vaccines no longer match circulating strains due to antigenic drift or the incorporation of inadvertent (eg, egg-adaptive) mutations during vaccine manufacturing. In this review, we summarize the evidence for antigenic drift of circulating viruses and/or egg-adaptive mutations occurring in vaccine strains during the 2011-2020 influenza seasons. Evidence suggests that antigenic drift led to vaccine mismatch during four seasons and that egg-adaptive mutations caused vaccine mismatch during six seasons. These findings highlight the need for alternative vaccine development platforms. Recently, vaccines based on mRNA technology have demonstrated efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 and respiratory syncytial virus and are under clinical evaluation for seasonal influenza. We discuss the potential for mRNA vaccines to address strain mismatch, as well as new multi-component strategies using the mRNA platform to improve vaccine effectiveness.

Keywords: Influenza; antigenic drift; egg-adaptive mutations; mRNA vaccines; vaccination; vaccine effectiveness; vaccine manufacturing.

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Conflict of interest statement

Parinaz Ghaswalla, Yoonyoung Park, Nevena Vicic, Jintanat Ananworanich, Raffael Nachbagauer, and Deborah Rudin are employees of Moderna, Inc., and may hold stock/stock options in the company.

Colin Russell has received speaking and/or consulting fees related to influenza vaccines from Moderna, Sanofi, GSK, Roche, and CSL/Sequiris.

Ron Fouchier reports no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Influenza vaccine effectiveness, vaccine match, and strain prevalence by Northern Hemisphere influenza season and geographic region.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Influenza vaccine manufacturing using egg-based, cell culture-based, and mRNA-based platforms.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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