One thing we have learned during the pandemic is that medical innovation cannot rest on its laurels. We should expect relentless commitment toward future innovation from the private and public sectors that fund such endeavors, the regulatory bodies that review and approve new treatments, and institutions such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that provide swift and straightforward recommendations.
We should not wait for the subsequent pandemic or variant mutation as a society. Instead, we must ensure that we are always one step ahead of the next public health crisis.
Multiple innovators are on the cusp of developing new treatments and vaccines to defeat the coming variants of COVID-19 or the old public health nemesis, the flu. For example, there are promising antibody therapies under review at the FDA that treat and prevent COVID infections.
While innovation against flu continues, there are already approved enhanced vaccines for influenza. The latter vaccines are referred to as Enhanced Influenza Vaccines (EIVs). Multiple such vaccines are currently available in the marketplace, which is a good thing since their presence enhances economic competition while providing healthcare professionals and patients numerous access opportunities.
Reprinted with permission. Dr. Popovian's article can be read in its entirety here.
