What Kinds Of Flu Vaccines Are Available
CDC recommends use of any licensed, age-appropriate influenza vaccine during the 2021-2022 influenza season. Available influenza vaccines include quadrivalent inactivated influenza vaccine , recombinant influenza vaccine , or live attenuated influenza vaccine . No preference is expressed for any influenza vaccine over another.
Quadrivalent flu vaccines include:
Are any of the available flu vaccines recommended over others?
For the 2021-2022 flu season, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends annual influenza vaccination for everyone 6 months and older with any licensed, influenza vaccine that is appropriate for the recipients age and health status, including inactivated influenza vaccine , recombinant influenza vaccine , or live attenuated nasal spray influenza vaccine with no preference expressed for any one vaccine over another.
There are many vaccine options to choose from, but the most important thing is for all people 6 months and older to get a flu vaccine every year. If you have questions about which vaccine is best for you, talk to your doctor or other health care professional.
Who Should Vaccinate?
Everyone 6 months of age and older should get an influenza vaccine every season with rare exception. CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has made this recommendation since the 2010-2011 influenza season.
More information is available at Who Needs a Flu Vaccine.
Who Should Not Be Vaccinated?
When should I get vaccinated?
Alternatives To Traditional Vaccinations
Those concerned about the use of aborted fetuses in the development of vaccinations can turn to alternative vaccines that have been prepared using animal tissues and cells.
In some cases, alternative vaccines may be available, such as the RabAvert rabies vaccine cultivated from chicken fibroblasts.
If you want to learn more about the alternatives or have specific concerns, contact your pediatrician for further information.
Iii2 People Capable Of Transmitting Influenza To Those At High Risk Of Influenza
People who are potentially capable of transmitting influenza to those at high risk should receive annual vaccination, regardless of whether the high-risk individual has been vaccinated. Vaccination of HCWs decreases their own risk of illnessFootnote 52,Footnote 53, as well as the risk of death and other serious outcomes among the individuals for whom they provide careFootnote 54,Footnote 55,Footnote 56,Footnote 57. Vaccination of HCWs and residents of nursing homes is associated with decreased risk of ILI outbreaksFootnote 58.
People who are more likely to transmit influenza to those at high risk of influenza-related complications or hospitalization include:
- HCWs and other care providers in facilities and community settings who, through their activities, are capable of transmitting influenza to those at high risk and
- Contacts, both adults and children, of individuals at high risk, whether or not the individual at high risk has been vaccinated.
Health care workers and other care providers in facilities and community settings
Vaccination of health care workers and other care providers
Outbreak management in health care facilities
Contacts of individuals at high risk of influenza complications
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When Is The Best Time To Get The Influenza Vaccine
Influenza season can start as early as the fall, so the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend receiving the influenza vaccine in September or October. Because it takes about two weeks after receiving the vaccine to be fully protected, its important to get the vaccine early during the fall. Only a few groups of people should be offered the influenza vaccine in August if it is available. These include:
- Women who are in their third trimester, so their baby can benefit from maternal antibodies before it is old enough to get vaccinated.
- Young children, particularly those who require two doses.
Some people are at increased risk of experiencing complications and as such, it is particularly important for them to get the influenza vaccine, including young children, pregnant women, adults 65 years of age and older, and individuals with underlying medical conditions, such as chronic heart, lung and kidney conditions.
The Flu Vaccine Contains Several Viral Strains
The CVVs are mostly grown and cultivated in either fertilized hen eggs or egg-free cell cultures.
No matter the year, the flu vaccine is designed to protect against three to four flu viruses in circulation. That’s because there are different types of flu caused by different viral strains.
The most common are flu types A and B, which is why each year the flu vaccine contains strains of both types A and B viruses. For example, the vaccine for the 2019-20 flu season in the US contains strains of H1N1 and H3N2 which both cause flu type A and two flu type B strains, called B/Victoria and B/Yamagata.
Getting all those different viruses to coexist in one place is where the hen eggs and cell cultures come in.
Each viral strain is either injected into an egg or added to cell culture. Then the viruses are given a few days to replicate and grow, just as if they were inside a person.
All the while, the eggs and cultures are handled under sterilized conditions. For instance, the egg yolks are inoculated with viruses under ultraviolet light and in an area absent of dust and other contaminants.
After a few days, the eggs and cultures are teaming with flu viruses, which means it’s time to extract them. After extraction, those viruses are then killed or weakened for the vaccine, at which point a small number of stabilizers and preservatives are added to prevent contamination and keep the vaccine stable after manufacturing.
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Considerations For Getting A Covid
Its safe for your health care provider to administer a COVID-19 vaccine at the same time as other vaccines. If youre 12 years of age or older, you may get the flu shot at the same time as a COVID-19 vaccine. You may also get it any time before or after you receive the flu shot.
For children aged 5 to 11, the National Advisory Council on Immunization recommends a 14-day interval between a COVID-19 vaccine and other vaccines. This is to help better monitor for possible side effects from COVID-19 vaccines. Provinces and territories will decide on an interval for this age group as part of their vaccination programs.
Talk to a health care provider or consult your provincial or territorial public health authority for the latest guidance.
Learn more about:
Fda Authorizes Covid Vaccine Boosters For Children 12
The Food and Drug Administration on Monday cleared the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 booster dose for children ages 12 to 15.
The omicron variant is spreading rapidly among younger people in the U.S. According to NBC News data, the country set a record Sunday for total pediatric patients hospitalized with confirmed and suspected Covid, pointing to the need for young teens to be vaccinated.
The FDA also shortened the timing of Pfizer’s booster shots from six months to five months after the initial series of shots, based on Israeli research, for everyone over age 12.
The change in booster recommendation to five months after the initial vaccine series means millions more Americans will now be eligible for an extra dose. Currently, only about 33 percent of eligible people in the U.S. have received a Covid vaccine booster, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, even though two doses of the Pfizer vaccine have diminished effectiveness against the omicron variant.
The decreased time period to wait for a booster only applies to those who had the Pfizer shots. Those who received the Moderna shots should still wait six months before getting the booster, the FDA said, citing a lack of data from Moderna to change the recommended time period.
Advice for those who got the one-dose Johnson & Johnson shot is not as clear.
The Pfizer booster shot is the exact same dosage as the first two shots.
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Who Should Have The Vaccine
In 2021/22 flu season, the following people are eligible to receive the flu vaccine for free:
- All children aged 2 to 15 on 31st Aug 2021
- Those aged 50 years or over
- 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
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.
Your doctor may recommend the flu vaccine in other circumstances as well.
What Are The Possible Benefits Of Using Cell
Observational studies have shown greater protection against flu or flu-like illness among people who received Flucelvax compared to those who received standard-dose egg-based vaccines.
A potential advantage of cell culture technology is that it might permit faster start-up of the vaccine manufacturing process in the event of a pandemic. The cells used to manufacture Flucelvax Quadrivalent are kept frozen and banked. Cell banking ensures an adequate supply of cells is readily available for vaccine production. Growing the flu viruses in cell culture for the manufacture of Flucelvax Quadrivalent is not dependent on an egg supply. Cell-based flu vaccines that are produced using CVVs have the potential to be more effective than traditional egg-based flu vaccines.
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Iii1 People At High Risk Of Influenza
All pregnant women
NACI recommends the inclusion of all pregnant women, at any stage of pregnancy, among the particularly recommended recipients of IIV, due to the risk of influenza-associated morbidity in pregnant womenFootnote 25,Footnote 26,Footnote 27,Footnote 28,Footnote 29, evidence of adverse neonatal outcomes associated with maternal respiratory hospitalization or influenza during pregnancyFootnote 30,Footnote 31,Footnote 32,Footnote 33, evidence that vaccination of pregnant women protects their newborns from influenza and influenza-related hospitalizationFootnote 34,Footnote 35,Footnote 36,Footnote 37, and evidence that infants born during influenza season to vaccinated women are less likely to be premature, small for gestational age, and of low birth weight than if born to women that had not received an influenza vaccineFootnote 38,Footnote 39,Footnote 40,Footnote 41. The risk of influenza-related hospitalization increases with length of gestation .
Refer to the Statement on Seasonal Influenza Vaccine for 2011-2012 and the Statement on Seasonal Influenza Vaccine for 2012-2013 for further details on influenza vaccination during pregnancy.
Adults and children with chronic health conditions
Neurologic or neurodevelopment conditions
People of any age who are residents of nursing homes and other chronic care facilities
Adults 65 years of age and older
All children 6-59 months of age
Indigenous peoples
How Is The Flu Vaccine Made
In February and September each year, The World Health Organization holds a conference with leading experts and influenza centres from around the world to make recommendations about the composition of the next seasons flu vaccine.
They look at all the current information about influenza, including the recent patterns of flu epidemics across the world, to decide which strains of flu are likely to be most common in the next flu season. Vaccines are created to protect against these strains, usually containing three or four strain vaccines.
For countries in the Southern Hemisphere, like Australia, the information from the September conference helps them plan for flu vaccines for the following winter. After the conference, the Australian Influenza Vaccine Committee meet with the Therapeutic Goods Administration to confirm which strains will be included in the Australian flu vaccines. The vaccine funded for the National Immunisation Program in Australia contains the two strains of Influenza A most commonly circulating and the two Influenza B strains.
These vaccines then need to be made. Its a long and time consuming process, with large amounts of each virus strain needing to be created to make enough vaccine doses.
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Do Vaccines Contain Aborted Fetal Tissue
Several common vaccines are made by growing viruses in fetal embryo cells. These cells originally came from tissue obtained from two fetuses that were legally aborted in the early 1960s.
The same cells have continued to grow in a laboratory and are still used to make vaccines today. No additional cells have been harvested from aborted fetuses since then, but the topic is controversial because of where the original cells came from.
The vaccines that grow in these fetal cells include:
In 2011, the Food and Drug Administration approved an oral adenovirus vaccine made from human fetal embryo fibroblasts for use in military populations only. Fibroblasts are the main type of cell in connective tissue, and they produce proteins that give tissues structure.
Keep reading to learn more about vaccines and whether or not they contain aborted fetal tissue. You will also learn about alternatives to traditional vaccines.
Verywell / Nusha Ashjaee
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
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Northern Hemisphere Influenza Season
The composition of trivalent virus vaccines for use in the 2017â2018 Northern Hemisphere influenza season recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on August 25, 2017, was:
- an A/Michigan/45/2015 pdm09âlike virus
- an A/Hong Kong/4801/2014 -like virus
- a B/Brisbane/60/2008âlike virus
In addition to these components, quadrivalent vaccines will also include a B/Phuket/3073/2013âlike virus .
In California, some emergency systems were strained by a spike in H3N2 flu cases. In addition, some areas experienced local shortages of oseltamivir. The severity of the flu season seemed somewhat comparable to the 2009â10 swine flu outbreak. A February 2018 CDC interim report estimated the vaccine effectiveness to be 25% against H3N2, 67% against H1N1, and 42% against influenza B.
A Brief History Of The Flu Vaccine
Every year, three to five million people catch the seasonal flu, according to the World Health Organization , and between 290,000 and 650,000 people die from it worldwide. Still, thanks to the flu vaccine, this is only a fraction of how many people it used to kill. During the last major flu pandemic of 1918-1919, it killed between 50 and 100 million people around the world.
For a long time, scientists had thought that the flu was caused by a bacteria called Haemophilus influenzae, but after the 1918-19 pandemic, they started to suspect it was caused by a virus instead. However, it wouldnt be until the 1930s that they would confirm that. In 1933, three scientists isolated the Influenza A virus in ferrets one of the three types of flu and in 1936, it was discovered that the virus could be grown inside embryonated chicken eggs, a key step towards making a vaccine.
Just two years later, in 1938, Jonas Salk and Thomas Francis developed the first vaccine using fertilized chicken eggs and an inactivated strain of the Influenza A virus.
This new vaccine was first used to help protect soldiers fighting in World War II it wouldnt be approved for civilians until 1946. According to a 1944 study of the new vaccine, it helped reduce illness that was accompanied by a temperature above 99 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Moderna Covid Booster Faq: You Can Mix And Match With Pfizer After 5 Months
Booster shots for Moderna’s Spikevax vaccine have proven highly effective against omicron. You can now get boosted 5 months after a second shot of Pfizer.
New research shows the Moderna booster significantly increases protection against COVID and omicron.
The US Food and Drug Administration on Monday reduced the waiting period between the second shot of Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine and a follow-up booster from six months to five, but retained the six-month waiting period for those who received initial vaccinations of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. That means you can get a Moderna booster five months after an initial Pfizer vaccination, but still need to wait six months after your second shot of Moderna.
Acting FDA Commissioner in a media call on Monday, stating, “If you got J& J, you get a booster after two months. If you got Pfizer as your primary series, you can get a booster at five months or beyond. If you got Moderna, you can get a booster at six months or beyond.”
As the omicron variant continues to be the dominant COVID-19 strain in the US, responsible for nearly 60% of new infections, research indicates that, without a third shot, vaccines are minimally effective against the highly contagious mutation. The good news is that research also indicates the Moderna booster is highly effective in increasing that protection.