The so-called chronopharmacology has shown that the efficacy of treatments varies according to what time they are applied, but the difference found has rarely been as striking as in vaccines. A study by the University of Birmingham, in the United Kingdom, published in the journal Vaccine, assures that the flu can be up to four times more effective if it starts between nine and eleven in the morning instead of between three and Five in the afternoon.
The British experts came to this conclusion after evaluating 276 people over 65 years of age who had received vaccines against three strains of flu between 2011 and 2013. They found that those who received them in the morning developed many more antibodies against two of these strains than those who received the immunization in the evening band.
Lead researcher Anna Phillips said in a press release that the result “will help in the strategy for influenza immunization and will give clues to improve vaccination against other diseases .” Another scientist participating in the work, Janet Lord, recalled that “less than half of older adults produce enough antibodies to be completely protected.” The team from the University of Birmingham now also intends to analyze the effect of the inoculation schedule on pneumonia vaccines .
Every year around 250,000 people die from the flu in the world; 3,000 of them, in Spain. They are patients with serious problems – HIV, cancer patients – whose state is aggravated by the infection. The study estimates that in Great Britain alone changing the schedule for administering the vaccine would save the lives of about 2,400 people a year . And without any additional cost to the public coffers.
