At the Christchurch Clinical Studies Trust (CCST), a groundbreaking flu vaccine study may hold the answer to stemming the Zika crisis.
An international pharmaceutical company has contracted the CCST to test the efficiency of a new oral influenza tablet.
The vaccine has been tested on the two strains of influenza A, and is being tested on influenza B strain.
The results were proving positive, lead investigator Chris Wynne said. If the trial proved successful, it was likely to be used to produce a Zika vaccine.
“If you can show that it works you can change the molecules to vaccinate against norovirus and other things, and now we’re looking at Zika,” Wynne said.