Inactivated vaccines articles from across Nature Portfolio

In this study, the authors assessed influenza-specific antibody responses in a cohort of seasonally vaccinated children and report that seasonal vaccination is beneficial by enhancing pandemic influenza virus-specific antibodies and cross-reactive effector functions.

Galhaut et al. evaluate the immunogenicity and efficacy of an inactivated whole virus COVID-19 vaccine in animal models. VLA2001 adjuvanted with alum and CpG 1018 generates polyfunctional Th1 cell responses and specific neutralizing antibodies to several SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and protects macaques from viral replication and inflammation.

Epidemics of whooping cough caused by Bordetella pertussis have been seen and are linked to waning immunity globally. Here the authors explore responses to inactivated poliovirus (IPV) in the Tdap-IPV vaccine and show it stimulates early antiviral responses in monocytes and dendritic cells that are associated with long-lived pertussis antibody responses.

Seasonal influenza vaccines typically fail to induce cross-protective antibody responses. Here, Van Reeth et al. sequentially vaccinate pigs with diverse H1N1 viruses and show that this strategy induces antibodies against a panel of H1N1 strains from swine and humans and protects against antigenically mismatched strains.

The quest to improve influenza vaccines is aided by research into the immune response that they generate. Two recent studies have focused their attention on the specificities of antibodies induced after vaccination with conventional inactivated influenza vaccines.

Several recent studies are expanding our options to prevent and treat Ebolavirus, including new vaccine candidates and short interfering RNAs that target the viral genome.