Are Any Of The Available Flu Vaccines Recommended Over Others
Yes, for some people. For the 2022-2023 flu season, there are three flu vaccines that are preferentially recommended for people 65 years and older. These are Fluzone High-DoseQuadrivalent vaccine, Flublok Quadrivalent recombinantflu vaccine or Fluad Quadrivalent adjuvanted flu vaccine. On June 22, 2022, CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted unanimously to preferentially recommend these vaccines overstandard-dose unadjuvanted flu vaccines. This recommendation was based on a review of available studies which suggests that, in this age group, these vaccines are potentially more effective than standard dose unadjuvanted flu vaccines. There is no preferential recommendation for people younger than 65 years.
Quadrivalent Vaccines For Seasonal Flu
A quadrivalent flu vaccine administered by nasal mist was approved by the FDA in March 2012. Fluarix Quadrivalent was approved by the FDA in December 2012.
In 2014, the Canadian National Advisory Committee on Immunization published a review of quadrivalent influenza vaccines.
Starting with the 2018-2019 influenza season most of the regular-dose egg-based flu shots and all the recombinant and cell-grown flu vaccines in the United States are quadrivalent. In the 2019â2020 influenza season all regular-dose flu shots and all recombinant influenza vaccine in the United States are quadrivalent.
In November 2019, the FDA approved Fluzone High-Dose Quadrivalent for use in the United States starting with the 2020-2021 influenza season.
In February 2020, the FDA approved Fluad Quadrivalent for use in the United States. In July 2020, the FDA approved both Fluad and Fluad Quadrivalent for use in the United States for the 2020â2021 influenza season.
What Is The Bird Flu
The avian influenza virus causes bird flu. Birds can be infected by influenza A viruses and all of its subtypes. Birds are not capable of carrying either type B or C influenza viruses.
There are three main subtypes of avian flu, including H5, H7, and H9. The subtypes H5 and H7 are the most deadly, while the H9 subtype is less dangerous.
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Types Of Flu Shots And Vaccines
There are nine types of flu vaccines available for the 2021-2022 season. All nine protect against the same four strains of flu. Because they protect against four they are called quadrivalent vaccines.
The CDC doesnt recommend one type of vaccine over the others: the vaccine thats available is the one you should get. However, some people, including people under the age of 2, over the age of 65, who have allergies or who are pregnant have special considerations and should talk to their doctor about which vaccine is best.
Who Should Have The Vaccine
In the 2022/23 flu season, the flu vaccine will be available for free to the following groups in England:
- All children aged 2 to 10 years on 31st Aug 2022
- Secondary school children in years 7, 8 and 9 – any remaining vaccine will be offered to children in years 10 and 11, subject to vaccine availability
- Those aged 50-64 years
- Those in long-term residential care homes
- Carers
- Frontline health and social care workers
- Close contacts of immunocompromised individuals
- Those aged 6 months to 65 years in at-risk groups including people with the following health conditions:
- Respiratory diseases, including asthma
- Heart disease, kidney disease or liver disease
- Neurological conditions including learning disability
- Diabetes
- A severely weakened immune system , a missing spleen, sickle cell anaemia or coeliac disease
- Being seriously overweight
Your doctor may recommend the flu vaccine in other circumstances as well.
Note that the eligibility criteria for the 2022/23 season are different to those in the 2021/22 season, so some people who were eligible for the flu vaccine last year may not be eligible this year.
Babies under 6 months old are too young to receive a flu vaccine. This is because they have maternal antibodies passed on from their mother which prevent the vaccine from working so well. Flu vaccination is offered to all pregnant women in the UK . As well as protecting pregnant women themselves, this also helps to protect their newborn babies from flu.
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During Past Flu Seasons
The CDC tracks seasonal flu vaccine effectiveness each year. Over the past 17 years, the highest effectiveness was in the 2010-2011 season when it was 60% effective.
Here are the effectiveness rates over the past five seasons for which data are available:
- 20152016: 48%
How To Get Vaccinated Against Influenza
Influenza vaccines are given as an injection, usually in the upper arm. It is important to get the right vaccine for your age. Your immunisation provider can tell you which vaccine they will use for you or your child’s influenza immunisation.
Influenza vaccines available under the NIP for the 2022 season include:
- VaxiGrip Tetra
The Therapeutic Goods Administration website provides product information and consumer medicine information for each vaccine available.
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Which Type Of Bird Flu Is In The News
Health care professionals had been very vocal about the strain of avian influenza known as H5N1.
The reason H5N1 has caused so much alarm is its ability to pass from wild birds to poultry and then on to people. While wild birds are commonly immune to the devastating and possibly deadly effects of H5N1, the virus has killed more than half of the people infected with it. The risk of avian flu is generally low in most people because the virus does not typically infect humans. Infections have occurred as a result of contact with infected birds. Spread of this infection from human to human has been reported to be extremely rare.
Where Can I Get An Influenza Vaccine
Influenza vaccines are provided at a wide variety of locations across the province, including:
- Pharmacies .
- Doctors’ offices
- Travel clinics
Services vary by location. You can use our influenza clinic locator to find an influenza vaccine clinic near you.
To find a pharmacy offering the influenza vaccine near you, please visit this link. You may be able to book your influenza vaccine online or by phone, and some pharmacies are accepting walk-ins.
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How Do Flu Vaccines Work
Flu vaccines cause antibodies to develop in the body about two weeks after vaccination. These antibodies provide protection against infection with circulating influenza viruses.
Seasonal flu vaccines are designed to protect against the influenza viruses that research indicates will be most common during the upcoming season. All flu vaccines in the United States are quadrivalent vaccines, which means they protect against four different flu viruses: an influenza A virus, an influenza A virus, and two influenza B viruses.
High Dose Of Hemagglutinin
Given the poor performance of TIVs in the elderly, Fluzone High-Dose, a new formulation of TIV that contains four times the standard dose of HA, was approved for use in the elderly in the United States in 2010. This vaccine is administered in a single dose and can induce antibody titers equal to or better than those induced by the standard TIV . High-dose HA was also shown to improve immunogenicity in HIV-immunocompromised patients, despite their low overall CD4 counts , indicating that increasing the antigenic dose can result in a correspondingly increased immune response . The high dose, however, may present a manufacturing burden, especially during a pandemic, when demand is anticipated to be high, and, although effective, may prove impractical outside high-risk groups.
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Other Methods Of Manufacture
Methods of vaccine generation that bypass the need for eggs include the construction of influenza virus-like particles . VLP resemble viruses, but there is no need for inactivation, as they do not include viral coding elements, but merely present antigens in a similar manner to a virion. Some methods of producing VLP include cultures of Spodoptera frugiperdaSf9 insect cells and plant-based vaccine production . There is evidence that some VLPs elicit antibodies that recognize a broader panel of antigenically distinct viral isolates compared to other vaccines in the hemagglutination-inhibition assay .
A gene-based DNA vaccine, used to prime the immune system after boosting with an inactivated H5N1 vaccine, underwent clinical trials in 2011.
On November 20, 2012, Novartis received FDA approval for the first cell-culture vaccine. In 2013, the recombinant influenza vaccine, Flublok, was approved for use in the United States.
On September 17, 2020, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency adopted a positive opinion, recommending the granting of a marketing authorization for Supemtek, a quadrivalent influenza vaccine . The applicant for this medicinal product is Sanofi Pasteur. Supemtek was approved for medical use in the European Union in November 2020.
Who Should Get An Influenza Vaccine
- Everyone 6 months of age and older should get a yearly influenza vaccination with rare exception.
- Vaccination is especially important for people who are at high risk of serious illness from influenza and those able to transmit or spread influenza to those at high risk.
- Influenza vaccination is free for everyone six months and older in BC for the 2021-2022 influenza season.
- In BC, influenza vaccines are usually available in October. For your best protection, get immunized as soon as possible.
- The influenza vaccine is your best defense against influenza.
- There are two main types of influenza vaccines, the inactivated influenza vaccine, and the live attenuated influenza vaccine.
- Several different types of inactivated influenza vaccines and one type of live attenuated influenza vaccine are available in BC.
- The vaccines protect against either 3 strains of influenza or 4 strains of influenza .
- Your health care provider can tell you which vaccine is recommended for you.
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Iv5 Additional Vaccine Safety Considerations
Influenza vaccine is safe and well tolerated. Contraindications, precautions, and common AEs are described in Section II. Additional information regarding egg-allergic individuals and GBS is provided below.
Egg-allergic individuals
After careful review of clinical and post-licensure safety data, NACI has concluded that egg-allergic individuals may be vaccinated against influenza using any appropriate product, including LAIV, without prior influenza vaccine skin test and with the full dose, irrespective of a past severe reaction to egg and without any particular consideration, including vaccination setting. The amount of trace ovalbumin allowed in influenza vaccines that are authorized for use in Canada is associated with a low risk of AE. The observation period post-vaccination is as recommended in Vaccine Safety in Part 2 of the CIG. As with all vaccine administration, vaccine providers should be prepared with the necessary equipment, knowledge, and skills to respond to a vaccine emergency at all times.
Refer to the Statement on Seasonal Influenza Vaccine for 2018-2019 for safety data supporting this recommendation for IIV and LAIV.
Guillain-Barré syndrome
Reporting Of Adverse Events Following Influenza Vaccine
Health professionals and consumers are encouraged to report all adverse events associated with influenza vaccination in patients of any age to the TGA or through the current arrangements in their state or territory.
All reports contribute to the TGA’s ongoing monitoring of the safety of influenza vaccines.
The TGA cannot give advice about an individual’s medical condition. You are strongly encouraged to talk with a health professional if you are concerned about a possible adverse event associated with a vaccine or medicine.
- Category:Medicines safety
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Why Do Some People Not Feel Well After Getting A Flu Shot
Flu vaccine side effects are generally mild and go away on their own within a few days. Some side effects that may occur from a flu shot include soreness, redness, and/or swelling where the shot was given, headache , fever, nausea, muscle aches, and fatigue. The flu shot, like other injections, can occasionally cause fainting.
Subunit Recombinant Polysaccharide And Conjugate Vaccines
Subunit, recombinant, polysaccharide, and conjugate vaccines use specific pieces of the germlike its protein, sugar, or capsid .
Because these vaccines use only specific pieces of the germ, they give a very strong immune response thats targeted to key parts of the germ. They can also be used on almost everyone who needs them, including people with weakened immune systems and long-term health problems.
One limitation of these vaccines is that you may need booster shots to get ongoing protection against diseases.
These vaccines are used to protect against:
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Influenza Vaccine Virus Strains
There are many different flu viruses, and they are constantly changing. The composition of US flu vaccines is reviewed annually and updated as needed to match circulating flu viruses. This season, all flu vaccines will be designed to protect against the four viruses that research indicates will be most common. Each year, the Food and Drug Administrations Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee makes the recommendation for the flu vaccine composition for US flu vaccines.
For 2021-2022, recommendations were made for egg-based, cell-based, and recombinant flu vaccines as listed below:
Egg-based vaccine composition recommendations:
- an A/Victoria/2570/2019 pdm09-like virus
- an A/Cambodia/e0826360/2020 -like virus
- a B/Washington/02/2019- like virus
- a B/Phuket/3073/2013-like virus
Cell- or recombinant-based vaccine composition recommendations:
- an A/Wisconsin/588/2019 pdm09-like virus
- an A/Cambodia/e0826360/2020 -like virus
- a B/Washington/02/2019- like virus
- a B/Phuket/3073/2013-like virus .
These recommendations include two updates compared with 2020-2021 US flu vaccines. Both the influenza A and the influenza A vaccine virus components were updated. Compared with the Southern Hemisphere flu vaccine recommendation, this recommendation represents one update and that is to the influenza A component.
Influenza Vaccine Recommendations
Flu Vaccine Effectiveness Over Time
The flu vaccine needs two weeks to become fully effective, and protection is thought to last for at least six months. But a person’s antibody levels in response to the vaccine can decrease over time, and different flu strains may be circulating.
Because of that and because each year the vaccine is tailored to the most concerning flu variants, people should get a flu vaccine annually.
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Ready To Receive Your Flu Vaccine For The 2021/22 Season
Community Pharmacy offers a variety of flu vaccine options to accommodate a wide range of individuals. No matter your age, health status, or philosophical beliefs, we can help you find a flu vaccine that meets your needs.
This season, we are offering:
- Two versions of the regular dose, egg-grown quadrivalent
- The high-dose, egg-grown quadrivalent
- The regular-dose, adjuvanted quadrivalent
To schedule your flu shot with Community Pharmacy, visit our website here.
If You’re Age 65 And Older
The choices include the regular flu shot , the high-dose flu shot , the quadrivalent flu shot and the egg-free shot called Flucelvax.
Should you get the high-dose vaccine or standard one?
Talk to your doctor about whether you need a high-dose vaccine, but studies do show that people who receive the high-dose vaccine produce more antibodies infection-fighting proteins in the blood than those who get the regular dose. That’s important because vaccines work by provoking the immune system’s defenses against the target disease, and older people tend to mount a weaker response.
In fact, the high-dose vaccine was developed to address concerns that the standard-dose shot doesn’t work very well in people 65 and older, the very group most likely to be hospitalized or die from flu complications. Last year, for example, the CDC reported that season’s regular vaccine lowered an older person’s risk of flu by only 27 percent, an unexpectedly low level of effectiveness compared with a 63 percent reduction for people ages 50 to 64.
Whether the high-dose shot’s effect on blood antibodies will translate into substantially fewer people getting sick is not yet clear. But signs are good that it offers at least some advantage. In August the vaccine’s maker, Sanofi Pasteur, issued preliminary findings from an ongoing clinical trial showing the higher dose increased flu prevention by 24 percent over the standard dose.
What about the new quadrivalent vaccine?
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Ii Canadian Immunization Guide Chapter On Influenza: Clinical Information For Vaccine Providers
The Canadian Immunization Guide is written primarily for health care providers but it is also used by policy makers, program planners, and the general public. The CIG has been a trusted, reader-friendly summary of the vaccine statements provided by NACI since 1979.
The information in this section replaces the influenza chapter of the CIG and is adapted for inclusion in the NACI Statement on Seasonal Influenza Vaccine. With a new NACI Statement on Seasonal Influenza Vaccine required each year, readers will have quick access to the information that they require within one document, whether it is the relevant influenza vaccine information written primarily for frontline vaccine providers as is found in this section, or the more detailed technical information that is found in the rest of this statement, commencing in Section III.
I1 New Or Updated Information For 2020
NACI recently reassessed the wording for the recommendation on the vaccination of health care workers and other care providers as a group for whom influenza vaccination is particularly recommended. The existing evidence on HCW influenza vaccination and the reduction of morbidity associated with influenza in patients being cared for by a HCW in health care settings was considered in the context of ethics and acceptability. NACI continues to recommend that, in the absence of contraindications, HCWs and other care providers in facilities and community settings should be vaccinated annually against influenza, and recommends the inclusion of this group among the particularly recommended recipients of influenza vaccine. NACI considers the receipt of influenza vaccination to be an essential component of the standard of care for all HCWs and other care providers for their own protection and that of their patients. This group should consider annual influenza vaccination as part of their responsibilities to provide the highest standard of care.
Recommendation on the use of LAIV in HIV-infected individuals
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