The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) called for a global approach to building a better flu vaccine that could be effective in the face of an influenza pandemic.

Officials at the NIAID, part of the National Institutes of Health, described the institute’s strategic plan in the Journal of Infectious Diseases and outlined the research areas essential to creating a safe and effective universal influenza vaccine. The strategic plan builds upon a workshop NIAID convened in June 2017 that gathered scientists from academia, industry and government who developed criteria for defining a universal influenza vaccine, identified knowledge gaps and delineated research strategies for addressing those gaps.

Specifically, NIAID aims to create a universal vaccine that would:

• Be at least 75 percent effective
• Protect against group I and II A viruses
• Have durable protection that lasts at least one year
• Be suitable for all age groups.