7 Healthcast: Flu Vaccine Additives

Scientists are looking into an additive that boosts the strength of flu vaccines and appears to help protect against several types of the flu, even though it has no effect when used alone.

So-called "adjuvants" are not used in our supply of the H1N1 vaccine, but are in European versions.

Researchers from the vaccine manufacturer Novartis say mixing an adjuvant with the vaccine greatly increased the immune responses to a wide variety of influenza types.

Adjuvants are often simple mixtures, like some combination of oil and water. It's unclear how they boost vaccines.

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