Norovaccine?

Norovirus is the so-called 'vomiting bug'. Because vomiting can result in rapid dehydration, an infection is especially dangerous in the very young; the elderly and folk with impaired immunological systems. World-wide, there are almost 700 million Norovirus cases and 200,000 deaths each year. Currently, hospitalised patients, can only be offered an intra-venous saline drip. Moderna has been building on its experience of developing messenger Ribonucleic Acid (mRNA) vaccines for Covid-19 and its variants. mRNA is the chemical manufactured by a gene, specifying a precise protein. Pre-mRNA vaccines involved exposing the individual to a dead or a damaged microbe. This new technology allows the vaccine-maker to synthesize a mRNA sequence that, when injected, generates a protein identical to one found in the bacterium or virus. This protein is usually associated with the microbe's coat (used to obtain access to the host's cells). The body then produces antibodies (protein defence molecules), attacking the infective agent. Consequently, such vaccines can be produced a) without exposing the vaccinated individual to the potentially more dangerous agent per se and b) that can be quickly modified when the virus/bacterium mutates (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/oct/23/doctors-trial-worlds-first-vaccine-against-vomiting-bug-norovirus). An effective Norovirus vaccine would clearly have both health and economic benefits. Folk can't work, when they are infected with the vomiting bug. The Moderna mRNA Novovirus vaccine is currently undergoing 'double blind trials' in England and elsewhere. One half of the test subjects are given the vaccine and the reminder a placebo (injection of saline). Not until the end of the study, will experimenters know which subjects received the vaccine and which the placebo. The incidence (and severity?) of Norovirus infections in the treatment and control groups will then be compared. In England, it will then be up to NICE to determine if the benefits of the vaccine outweigh its costs. If it does, the treatment will be offered on the NHS, along with vaccines for seasonal influenza, Covid-19 etc.