A*Star researchers find that frail elderly adults can benefit from seasonal flu vaccinations

SINGAPORE — Contrary to conventional belief, even frail, elderly adults benefit from seasonal flu vaccinations, new research has found.

Scientists from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research’s (A*Star) Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) and clinicians from Singapore’s National University Hospital (NUH) found that when given influenza vaccinations, elderly people — those above 65 — had a similar immune response to that of younger individuals, and that their health did not affect this response.

The studies were conducted by measuring the levels of antibodies in the bodily fluids of elderly adults.

“One might intuitively think that a younger person’s immune response to a flu vaccination would be significantly stronger than an elderly person’s. However, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the elderly participants of the study mounted very robust antibody responses comparable to the younger individuals, even those elderly considered to be frail,” said Dr Anis Larbi, 39, the senior principal investigator at SIgN, a research institute under A*Star which focuses on human immunology research.

The studies, which were published in two scientific journals, were partially funded by pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur and food and beverage company Nestle’s Research Singapore Hub.

The elderly subjects were recruited from an on-going study conducted by the National University of Singapore on ageing and health among Chinese elderly here.

The findings support recommendations under the National Adult Immunisation Schedule issued by the Ministry of Health for those aged 65 years and above to receive influenza vaccinations.

However, A*Star cautioned that individuals should continue to seek their doctor’s advice on whether they are suitable to receive any specific vaccines.

Dr Larbi also acknowledged that there could be other factors affecting an elderly’s immune response, such as genetics, previous exposures to the viruses and the nutritional status of the elderly.

He added that A*Star has already begun further studies to investigate the relationship between some of these factors.

In a separate study, A*Star’s Bioinformatics Institute, which is a computational biology research and postgraduate training institute, discovered that the flu virus evolves when it is being transmitted from one person to another.

This is a departure from the conventional thinking that the virus evolves within an infected patient due to his previous infections or vaccinations.

A*Star is conducting further studies to determine how a virus evolves during transmission.

The findings suggest that rather than targeting individuals in the fight against the flu, such as through the consumption of antibiotics, public health measures and interventions should be targeted at preventing the transmission of the influenza virus.

This will help to limit the spread of the virus, as well as limit its ability to evolve, the researchers said.

With a reduction or delay in the evolution of the viruses, vaccines can work more effectively over longer periods of time, which could then contribute to significant cost savings on healthcare, they added.

In the course of the study, A*Star’s scientists analysed the genetic sequences of over 25,000 influenza viruses collected between 2009 and 2016 and stored on the Global Initiative for Sharing All Influenza Data, a public database by the World Health Organisation.

CLARIFICATION: A*Star has clarified that Nestle Research Singapore Hub provided part of the funding for the studies, and not Nestle’s research centre, which is a different entity.