Hacker News Reader

Comment by CyanLite4 | Hacker News Reader

Netflix show “Pandemic” has featured Jake Glanville who says he has a working universal flu vaccine. However it takes 7 injections over a few months. His work is now trying to get it down to 1. I think at-risk patients and “important people” (POTUS for example) would consider taking all 7 injections if it meant never having the flu ever again.

View on HN

I'm not at risk nor particularly important, but 7 shots over a few months seem like a great deal, and a step up from the yearly flu shot. Am I missing something?

My guess is the issue is compliance with the injection schedule. During my HEP A/B three part vaccine, the doctor fought me about starting the series from the first shot as "did not need it based on job and lifestyle", on the second shot my insurance declined paying for it because whatever reason they pulled out of their backside.

Compare to my aunt, she got the first shot but not the second and third because she does not see the point. No amount of urging by family has changed her mind.

If the 7 part shot was available now, I would get it and finish it. Not everybody would because humans be oddballs.

7 injections once, no yearly flu shots and no flu? Seems like a good trade, IMO - pays off in 7 years or less.

I also felt his push for 1 shot was aiming unnecessarily too high. I suspect his motivation isn’t so much that in developed countries multiple shots is impossible, but more for use worldwide in less developed health systems. He obviously wants a wide uptake.

We have plenty of vaccines which require multiple shots. If he just halved it to 3-4 shots I think it would be a huge win for the world. Move from there to the idea of 1 shot.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com