Vaccines News

December 5, 2025

Top Headlines

A Routine Shingles Shot May Offer Powerful Defense Against Dementia

Dec. 3, 2025 A unique vaccine rollout in Wales gave researchers an accidental natural experiment that revealed a striking reduction in dementia among seniors who received the shingles vaccine. The protective effect held steady across multiple analyses and was ...

Bird Flu’s Surprising Heat Tolerance Has Scientists Worried

Nov. 28, 2025 Researchers discovered why bird flu can survive temperatures that stop human flu in its tracks. A key gene, PB1, gives avian viruses the ability to replicate even at fever-level heat. Mice experiments confirmed that fever cripples human-origin flu ...

COVID Vaccine Linked to Fewer Infections and Allergies in Kids with Eczema

Nov. 8, 2025 New research suggests the COVID-19 vaccine could help children with eczema stay healthier overall. Vaccinated kids had lower rates of infections and allergies, including asthma and rhinitis, compared with unvaccinated peers. Experts believe the ...

Scientists Discover COVID MRNA Vaccines Boost Cancer Survival

Oct. 28, 2025 Researchers found that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines significantly increased survival in lung and skin cancer patients undergoing immunotherapy. The vaccine appears to prime the immune system in a powerful, nonspecific way, enhancing cancer treatment ...

This New Blood Test Can Catch Cancer 10 Years Early

Oct. 13, 2025 Scientists at Mass General Brigham have created HPV-DeepSeek, a blood test that can detect HPV-linked head and neck cancers nearly a decade before diagnosis. By finding viral DNA in the bloodstream, the test achieved 99% sensitivity and specificity. ...

This Experimental “Super Vaccine” Stopped Cancer Cold in the Lab

Oct. 13, 2025 UMass Amherst researchers have developed a groundbreaking nanoparticle-based cancer vaccine that prevented melanoma, pancreatic, and triple-negative breast cancers in mice—with up to 88% remaining tumor-free. The vaccine triggers a multi-pathway ...

A Flu Test You Can Chew

Oct. 3, 2025 Flu detection could soon be as simple as chewing gum. Scientists have created a molecular sensor that releases a thyme-like flavor when it encounters influenza, offering a low-tech, taste-based alternative to nasal swabs. Unlike current tests that ...

The Hidden Group That Loses COVID Protection Fast

Sep. 18, 2025 Why do some people stay protected after vaccination while others quickly lose immunity? Researchers in Japan tracked over 2,500 people for 18 months and found four distinct immune response patterns. The so-called “rapid-decliners” looked strong ...

How Long Can One RSV Shot Protect Seniors? Study Shows Surprising Two-year Shield

Sep. 1, 2025 A single RSV vaccine dose is proving to be a powerful shield for older adults, significantly reducing hospitalizations and severe illness over two consecutive RSV seasons. While protection is ...

More Likely to Be Struck by Lightning Than Get Tetanus. so Why the Boosters?

Aug. 27, 2025 Researchers propose that the U.S. could safely drop adult tetanus and diphtheria boosters, saving $1 billion annually, since childhood vaccinations provide decades of protection. Evidence from the ...

The Common Cold’s Unexpected Superpower Against COVID

Aug. 26, 2025 A nationwide study found that recent colds caused by rhinoviruses can give short-term protection against COVID-19. Children benefit most, as their immune systems react strongly with antiviral defenses, helping explain their lower rates of severe ...

Columbia Scientists May Have Found a Universal Antiviral

Aug. 19, 2025 A rare immune disorder has inspired a potential universal antiviral therapy. By mimicking the mutation s unique inflammation signature, researchers developed an mRNA-based treatment that stopped influenza and COVID-19 in animal ...

Latest Headlines

updated 9:40am EST

Bird Flu Hiding in Cheese? The Surprising New Discovery

Oct. 21, 2025 Researchers discovered that avian influenza (H5N1) can survive in raw milk cheese made from contaminated milk, even after the 60-day aging process required by the FDA. However, highly acidic cheeses ...

Scientists Detect Virus Traces in Blood That May Unlock Long COVID’s Mystery

Aug. 12, 2025 Scientists have found protein fragments from the COVID-19 virus hidden inside tiny cellular packages in the blood of long COVID patients, offering ...

Researchers Discover Key Social Factors That Triple Long COVID Risk

Aug. 4, 2025 New research led by Mass General Brigham reveals that people facing social challenges—like food insecurity, financial strain, and limited healthcare access—are two to three times more likely to ...

This Vaccine Uses Dental Floss Instead of Needles

Aug. 3, 2025 Scientists have discovered that flossing between your teeth could one day help vaccinate you. By targeting a uniquely permeable gum tissue called the junctional epithelium, this new method stimulates ...

COVID Vaccines Saved 2. 5M Lives Globally—a Death Averted Per 5,400 Shots

July 27, 2025 Between 2020 and 2024, COVID-19 vaccines saved 2.5 million lives globally, preventing one death for every 5,400 doses. A groundbreaking worldwide study led by researchers from Università Cattolica ...

One Pregnancy Shot Slashes Baby RSV Hospitalizations by 72% — and Shields for Months

July 21, 2025 A new UK study shows that vaccinating pregnant women against RSV has led to a staggering 72% drop in hospitalizations of newborns with severe lung ...

This Virus Infects Millions—and We Just Discovered Its Secret Weapon

June 30, 2025 Scientists have discovered a stealthy mechanism that cytomegalovirus (CMV)—the leading infectious cause of birth defects in the U.S.—uses to infiltrate blood vessel cells while evading immune ...

One Shot to Stop HIV: MIT's Bold Vaccine Breakthrough

June 20, 2025 Researchers from MIT and Scripps have unveiled a promising new HIV vaccine approach that generates a powerful immune response with just one dose. By combining two immune-boosting adjuvants alum and ...

Scientists Discover Llama Antibodies That Shut Down COVID — and Its Future Variants

June 16, 2025 Powerful llama-derived antibodies could be the key to stopping not just current SARS viruses, but future ones too. Scientists have discovered a ...

New mRNA Vaccine Is More Effective and Less Costly to Develop

June 3, 2025 A new "trans-amplifying" mRNA vaccine delivers powerful immunity using 40 times less material and could protect against many virus strains at once. Scientists say it may pave the way for faster, ...

Large-Scale Immunity Profiling Grants Insights Into Flu Virus Evolution

June 3, 2025 A new study shows how person-to-person variation in antibody immunity plays a key role in shaping which influenza (flu) strains dominate in a ...

Researchers Engineer a Herpes Virus to Turn on T Cells for Immunotherapy

May 28, 2025 A team identified herpes virus saimiri, which infects the T cells of squirrel monkeys, as a source of proteins that activate pathways in T cells that are needed to promote T cell ...

HIV Vaccine Study Uncovers Powerful New Antibody Target

May 27, 2025 In the long battle to create an effective HIV vaccine, scientists have made a major leap forward. A new study shows that a series of vaccines can coax the immune system to produce powerful antibodies ...

Engineered Bacteria Can Deliver Antiviral Therapies, Vaccines

May 21, 2025 New research demonstrates how specially engineered bacteria taken orally can operate as a delivery system for vaccines and antiviral ...

New Blood Test Shows Superior Sensitivity in Detecting HPV-Associated Head and Neck Cancers

May 20, 2025 Head and neck cancer researchers are reporting the development and testing of HPV-DeepSeek, a novel liquid biopsy assay. In their new study, HPV-DeepSeek achieved 99% sensitivty and specifity for ...

Two HIV Vaccine Trials Show Proof of Concept for Pathway to Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies

May 15, 2025 A decades-long scientific challenge in HIV vaccine development has been finding a way to train the immune system to produce antibodies that can target many variants of the virus. Traditional ...

Particles Carrying Multiple Vaccine Doses Could Reduce the Need for Follow-Up Shots

May 15, 2025 MIT scientists have designed self-boosting vaccines that release doses over time from a single injection. This breakthrough could make multi-shot vaccines one-and-done, protecting children in even ...

Yellow Fever Vaccination: How Strong Immune Responses Are Triggered

May 14, 2025 Researchers show how specific immune cells are activated by the vaccine -- an important starting point for the development of new ...

New Study Offers Insights Into Designing Safe, Effective Nasal Vaccines

May 14, 2025 Most vaccines -- and boosters -- are injected directly into muscle tissue, usually in the upper arm, to kickstart the body's immune system in the fight against disease. But for respiratory ...

Novel, Needle-Free, Live-Attenuated Influenza Vaccines With Broad Protection Against Human and Avian Virus Subtypes

May 9, 2025 A research team has achieved a significant breakthrough in developing broadly protective, live-attenuated influenza vaccines (LAIV). These innovative LAIV platforms offer potential to develop ...

Evaluating the Safety and Efficacy of a Smallpox Vaccine for Preventing Mpox

May 8, 2025 The recent global monkeypox (mpox) outbreak, with a new and aggressive variant, has underscored the dire need for safe, broadly effective, and accessible vaccines. The LC16m8 vaccine, an attenuated ...

Engineering an Antibody Against Flu With Sticky Staying Power

May 8, 2025 Scientists have engineered a monoclonal antibody that can protect mice from a lethal dose of influenza A, a new study shows. The new molecule combines the specificity of a mature flu fighter with the ...

Building Vaccines for Future Versions of a Virus

May 8, 2025 Researchers have developed EVE-Vax, an AI tool that forecasts viral mutations and designs test proteins to guide next-generation vaccines. The breakthrough could allow scientists to build vaccines ...

Vaccines of the Future: Harnessing the Immune System for Long-Lasting Protection

May 7, 2025 Scientists have uncovered a promising new way to enhance the effectiveness of vaccines by tapping into the potential of a specific type of immune cell, opening the door to long-lasting vaccines for ...

Shingles Vaccine Lowers the Risk of Heart Disease for Up to Eight Years

May 5, 2025 People who are given a vaccine for shingles have a 23% lower risk of cardiovascular events, including stroke, heart failure, and coronary heart disease, according to a recent study of more than a ...

Left or Right Arm? New Research Reveals Why Vaccination Site Matters for Immune Response

Apr. 28, 2025 Where you get your vaccine booster matters more than you think. Scientists in Sydney found that same-arm shots prime immune cells to respond faster, producing stronger antibodies against viruses like ...

B Cells Found to Be Crucial for Long-Term Vaccine Protection, New Study Shows

Apr. 23, 2025 Researchers have uncovered a critical, previously underappreciated role for B cells in vaccine protection. Best known for producing antibodies, B cells also guide other immune cells, specifically CD8 ...

Americans Don't Think Bird Flu Is a Threat, Study Suggests

Apr. 18, 2025 A team led by researchers say public ignorance and apathy towards bird flu (highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI) could pose a serious obstacle to containing the virus and preventing a ...

Experimental Bird Flu Vaccine Excels in Animal Models

Apr. 17, 2025 A vaccine under development has demonstrated complete protection in mice against a deadly variant of the virus that causes bird flu. The work focuses on the H5N1 variant known as 2.3.4.4b, which has ...

Nasal Spray H5N1 Avian Influenza Vaccine Developed

Apr. 8, 2025 Scientists have pioneered an influenza virus vector-based nasal spray vaccine platform and developed a nasal spray H5N1 avian influenza vaccine. During the early COVID-19 pandemic, this platform ...