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Dr Ashley Birkett, of Acambis, said: "It wouldn't be that one shot protects for life but you would need fewer doses over your lifetime."
In addition, the jabs could be produced in vast quantities and stockpiled ahead of a flu pandemic - or even given to people in advance.
In contrast, a traditionally-produced vaccine, matched to the specific strain of flu, would not be available until around six months after the start of the pandemic.
The new vaccines only protect against influenza A - the version of the bug responsible for pandemic flu and the most severe cases of winter flu.
However, it may also be possible to create a similar jab against influenza B, which causes a milder form of winter flu.
Professor John Oxford, Britain's leading flu expert, said the development of a universal vaccine was the "holy grail" of flu research.
He added: "If you get a M2 vaccine which protects against the whole caboodle in the same vaccine, the possibilities are huge."
But, others cautioned that there is no guarantee that the jabs would be as effective in humans as it has been in animals.
Virologist Professor Ian Jones, of the University of Reading, said: "It is an encouraging technique which may have a role to play but it is too soon to assume that it will translate into a universal vaccine in the human population."
Dr Jim Robertson, a vaccine expert from the government-funded National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, said the main advantage of a universal jab would be lasting immunity.
"If it works, it will be lovely," he said. "The best result would be that it would last for a long, long time."
Dr Ron Cutler, an infectious diseases expert from the University of East London, said: "Continual protection would be a tremendous advantage against flu."
He cautioned however, that there is no guarantee that the M2 protein will not mutate in the future - meaning the jab will have to be regularly reformulated.
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