In a publication from the New England Journal of Medicine, experts from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and World Health Organization discuss how the process of preparing seasonal influenza vaccines in eggs may contribute to their limited effectiveness. The details were published yesterday.
Influenza vaccines are typically produced in chicken eggs, but there are a few made in cell culture or by using recombinant DNA technologies. According to the publication, there could have been mutations occurring in egg-prepared vaccines that may have contributed to decreased vaccine effectiveness during the 2016-2017 influenza season in the United States and the 2017 flu season in Australia.
Regardless of the limitations though, the authors note that people should still get their flu vaccine. They also go over the importance of the development of a universal vaccine that would eliminate the need for annual shots and protect against a number of different influenza subtypes.