“The flu vaccine is about 40% to 60% protective,” says  Dr. Dan Barouch, a professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. “It’s not a vaccine that gives complete protection against the flu, but it does substantially improve outcomes from the flu, particularly severe outcomes.”

Is there anything you want people to know about the flu that they may not be able to find right now through the government?

“ Information is really important. And information about the winter respiratory viruses changes every week. It spikes, it goes up, it goes down. So accurate and timely information is really important. Flu has caused an estimated 20 million cases this season so far, a quarter of a million hospitalizations and about 10,000 deaths. So flu is definitely surging. It was relatively quiet during the pandemic and now it’s clearly made a comeback.” Read Full Article

Respiratory viruses tend to spike in the winter for several reasons, says Dr. Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

“First, with the winter weather, people tend to congregate indoors,” Barouch said. “A second reason is that for the holidays, people tend to travel and have larger groupings. And thirdly, people are taking far fewer precautions now than they did in prior years because we’re out of the pandemic phase for COVID. So really, for all three reasons, we’re seeing a predictable surge now.”

That surge shouldn’t cause too much anxiety, Barouch said.

“It’s a reason for people to take intelligent precautions, perhaps more so for people who are more vulnerable,” Barouch said. “I don’t think that this is a cause of alarm, but I do think it’s a cause for vigilance.” Read more…

The Boston area is home to a critical mass of leading universities, hospitals, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and independent research institutions that all interact synergistically, says Dan Barouch, an immunologist at Harvard Medical School and director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. “The quality, depth and sheer breadth and scope of research in Boston is just astounding.” Read Full Article…

Barouch and colleagues assessed mpox-specific immune responses for 12 months in 45 individuals who were vaccinated during the 2022 mpox outbreak. The team performed an observational study in adults who received either one or two doses of the MVA-BN vaccine (known by the brand name Jynneos) or who had a confirmed diagnosis of mpox infection, assessing serum antibody and T cell responses at baseline, three weeks, three months, six months, nine months, and 12 months following vaccination. They observed that vaccination generated serum mpox antibodies that largely waned six to 12 months after vaccination.

“Our study highlights the importance of completing the recommended two-dose mpox vaccine, whether subcutaneous or intradermal, to boost immunity—regardless of the time between doses,” said lead author Ai-ris Yonekura Collier, MD, co-director of the Clinical Trials Unit at BIDMC. “In this mpox outbreak, ensuring broad access to the full vaccine series is crucial.”

Serum mpox antibodies correlated with protection against mpox challenge in preclinical studies. Larger human studies are needed to confirm generalizability and to assess vaccine efficacy over time, Barouch said.

Co-authors included Katherine McMahan, MS, Catherine Jacob-Dolan, PhD, Jinyan Liu, PhD, Erica N Borducchi, PhD, of BIDMC; and Bernard Moss, MD, PhD, of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Read Full Article…

“Our data shows that the antibody responses induced by the mpox vaccine are moderate to high titer after the two-dose vaccine,” said Dr. Dan Barouch, lead author of the study and director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. “After six to 12 months, those antibody titers wane quickly and go back almost to baseline levels at 12 months.” Read Full Article…