The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has just announced the approval of the first and only 4-strain influenza vaccine for children as young as 6 months. Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of the French drugmaker Sanofi, said its Fluzone Quadrivalent vaccine provides better protection from flu compared to the older three-strain vaccines.
The vaccine will be one the first of its kind available in this year’s upcoming flu season, along with GlaxoSmithKline’s four-strain seasonal flu vaccine, called Fluarix Quadrivalent. Fluarix Quadrivalent was the first intramuscular vaccine to protect against four influenza strains.
Until recently, influenza vaccines have only included one B strain.
In order to further protect against influenza, the Fluzone Quadrivalent vaccine has two A strains as well as two B strains.
Around every two to four years there are influenza B epidemics. The virus is associated with a high rate of influenza-related morbidity, and prevention is key.
Influenza is a respiratory illness that is very contagious and is typically spread via the coughs and sneezes of a person who is infected. People with influenza are contagious a day before symptoms emerge, as well as 7 days after, which means that you can still spread flu even after you feel better.
Of the three types of influenza virus’ that exist – infuenza A, influenza B and influenza C – only types A and B cause the seasonal epidemics which affect the USA and Europe nearly every year.
Around 128 million Americans were vaccinated during the 2011-2012 influenza season – 42% of the country’s population. Yet every year more than 200,000 people in the U.S. are hospitalized because of influenza – it is responsible for thousands of deaths. 44 percent of flu-related deaths in children and adolescents were caused by influenza B infection.
David Greenberg, MD, Vice President U.S. Scientific and Medical Affairs, Sanofi Pasteur, said:
“Sanofi Pasteur is committed to providing new immunization options for the prevention of influenza to help healthcare providers meet the specific immunization needs of all types of patients, and we are excited to introduce Fluzone Quadrivalent vaccine as an important new addition to our Fluzone family of specialized influenza vaccines.
Protection against the type B flu strain may be an especially important factor that healthcare providers consider when immunizing children since influenza B causes a substantial number of illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths in the pediatric population.”
Before 1978, seasonal influenza vaccines in the U.S. only contained one strain of type A influenza and one strain of type B influenza. A decision was made to add a second type A influenza strain to protect against three strains of influenza virus: a type A(H1N1), a type A(H3N2) and one type B.
However, since 2001 there have been two influenza B types circulating, which have made predicting the next season’s dominant B lineage strain very difficult to determine. In half of the past 12 seasons the dominant B strain was not included in the vaccinations given to the public.
To help reduce the prevalence of influenza, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone above the age of six months should receive the vaccination.
Within the next five years there could be a universal flu vaccine that protects against all strains, it is currently being developed by scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
Written by Joseph Nordqvist