Age indication for Afluria Quadrivalent expanded to now include children as young as 6 months
MONDAY, Aug. 26, 2019 (HealthDay News) — The recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) relating to the use of seasonal influenza vaccines in the United States have been updated for 2019 to 2020; the updated recommendations have been published in the Aug. 23 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Lisa A. Grohskopf, M.D., from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues updated the 2018 to 2019 ACIP recommendations for seasonal influenza vaccines in the United States based on discussions from three public meetings.
The authors note that the two primary updates include the addition of hemagglutinin (HA) derived from an A/Brisbane/02/2018 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus, an A/Kansas/14/2017 (H3N2)-like virus, and a B/Colorado/06/2017-like virus (Victoria lineage) to the 2019 to 2020 U.S. trivalent influenza vaccines. HA derived from these three viruses and a B/Phuket/3073/2013-like virus (Yamagata lineage) will be included in the quadrivalent influenza vaccines. In addition, recent labeling changes for Afluria Quadrivalent and Fluzone Quadrivalent are addressed. For Afluria, the age indication has been expanded from ≥5 years to ≥6 months; the dose volume is 0.25 mL for children aged 6 through 35 months and 0.5 mL for those aged ≥36 months. For Fluzone, the dose volume is 0.25 or 0.5 mL for children aged 6 through 35 months and 0.5 mL for those aged ≥36 months.
“Routine annual influenza vaccination is recommended for all persons aged ≥6 months who do not have contraindications,” the authors write.
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