Scientists at Stanford Medicine have unveiled a bold new kind of “universal” vaccine that could one day protect against everything from COVID-19 and the flu to bacterial pneumonia and even common allergens. Instead of targeting a specific virus or bacterium, the nasal spray vaccine supercharges the lungs’ own immune defenses, keeping them on high alert for months. In mice, it slashed viral levels, prevented severe illness, and even blocked allergic reactions.

“I think what we have is a universal vaccine against diverse respiratory threats,” Pulendran said.

    • Null User Object@lemmy.worldEnglish
      81·
      29 days ago

      It drove me nuts in the early days of the COVID vaccine and some study came out showing that a lot of the people against the vaccine were really just afraid of needles, but had a good chance to get their courage up if the news media would just stop plastering pictures of needles in every story about the vaccine. So, what did the news media do? They just kept right on throwing pictures of needles on every story.

    • Pyro@programming.devEnglish
      1·
      29 days ago

      I am afraid of needles too but that didn’t stop me from getting the vaccine because I’m more afraid of fucking dying.