The FDA has approved Moderna's mRNA-based vaccine. Washington University Medicine immunologist Dr. Hanover Matz studied the vaccine -- now called mFlusiva -- when it was in the clinical trial stage.
"We were not surprised to see that the mRNA vaccine could stimulate a strong immune response. We knew that when we had done prior studies looking at mRNA based vaccines to COVID-19, but we were surprised when the mRNA based vaccine was able to generate immunity against so many different types of influenza virus. That's a real advantage compared to the regular flu vaccine," Matz says.
This new shot was found to be 27% more effective that the standard vaccine. It's been approved for adults over the age of 50 and should be on the market sometime this fall.
