The WHO has recommended dropping a component of many flu vaccines because the viruses it protects against appear to have been driven into extinction in the Covid pandemic.
The WHO has recommended dropping a component of many flu vaccines because the viruses it protects against appear to have been driven into extinction in the Covid pandemic.
For anyone who just wants to know what component: they want to drop the influenza B/Yamagata variant of the flu virus since it appears to have gone extinct in the wild.
And it didn’t just go extinct by luck. It’s a good case study of how to control and/or eliminate a virus (e.g. COVID):
“The rapid and global implementation of social distancing measures, masking, and the profound early reduction in international travel resulted in a substantial reduction in flu transmission.”