February 22, 2010
A key U.S. Food and Drug Administration Advisory Committee recommended today that protection against the 2009 H1N1 virus, which was first identified last April, be included in the 2010-2011 seasonal influenza vaccine starting this fall. That means that, barring some unforeseen circumstance, this fall, most Americans will be able to return to the traditional routine of having one flu vaccine to protect them against the major circulating flu viruses. As is always the case with seasonal vaccine, younger children who have never had a seasonal vaccine will still need two doses.
A panel of immunization experts voted today (February 24, 2010) to expand the recommendation for annual influenza vaccination to include all people aged 6 months and older. The expanded recommendation is to take effect in the 2010 – 2011 influenza season. The new recommendation seeks to remove barriers to influenza immunization and signals the importance of preventing influenza across the entire population.
Annual influenza vaccination is a safe and preventive health action that
benefits all age groups. However, certain people have a higher risk for
influenza complications, including people aged 65 years and older, children
younger than 6 months of age, pregnant women, and people of any age with certain
chronic medical conditions.
These people, their household and close contacts, and all health care personnel
should continue to be a primary focus for vaccination efforts as providers and
programs transition to routinely vaccinating all people 6 months of age and
older.
2010-2011 seasonal influenza vaccine will be trivalent (with three different vaccine viruses) and include an A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)-like virus, an A/Perth/16/2009 (H3N2)-like virus, and a B/Brisbane/60/2008-like virus. The H1N1 virus recommended for inclusion in the 2010-2011 seasonal influenza vaccine is a pandemic 2009 H1N1 virus and is the same virus used in the 2009 H1N1 monovalent vaccine.
~CDC