Influenza Virus Vaccine

Dear Colleagues,

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has taught us the importance of vaccine research in pandemic preparedness. The 1918 influenza pandemic and subsequent influenza pandemics of 1957, 1968, 1977, and 2009 have demonstrated the pandemic potential of influenza virus. Moreover, each year seasonal influenza outbreaks cause a high degree of morbidity and mortality. Influenza vaccines are therefore important for the prevention of disease, and indeed to decrease the number of hospitalizations and deaths due to influenza virus infection. Since influenza virus has a strong propensity to drift, each year influenza vaccines are developed against the strain of influenza virus that is predicted to be dominant that year. However, compared to vaccines for other infectious diseases, current influenza vaccines are still less effective. Some of the limitations of current influenza vaccines include lengthy manufacturing processes, requirement of annual vaccination, chance of strain mismatch, and lower efficacy in older adults. Moreover, current influenza vaccines will not be able to provide any protection in the case of influenza pandemic. Thus, there is a need for a universal influenza vaccine and an improved vaccine production process to make enough vaccine doses quickly. Improved vaccines against avian and swine influenza virus are important to protect our livestock and to minimize chances of human exposure to these influenza viruses. Additionally, there is a requirement for the development of improved model systems for the rapid testing and comparison of novel vaccines. In recent years, influenza vaccine research has made a great deal of progress, and a number of promising novel vaccines are in clinical trials. Hopefully, we will be better prepared when a new influenza pandemic arrives.

This special issue of Vaccines will cover all these aspects of influenza vaccine research.

Dr. Amit Gaba
Dr. Laurent Verkoczy
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Vaccines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.