The US Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), at a meeting last week, heard a report about the high-dose influenza vaccine that was recently approved for people 65 and older but voiced no preference for its use in that age-group.
The vaccine, made by Sanofi Pasteur, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in December. It contains four times as much antigen as standard-dose flu vaccines. The aim is to increase the chance of a protective immune response in elderly people, who respond less well to standard-dose vaccines than younger people do.
Yesterday the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published the ACIP's “provisional recommendations” for flu prevention and control, a brief preview of the full recommendations, due out in June. The short statement noted that the vaccine, called Fluzone High-Dose, will be available this fall, and added:
“Studies are underway to assess the relative effectiveness of Fluzone High-Dose compared to standard dose inactivated influenza vaccine, but results from those studies will not be available before the 2010-11 influenza season. The ACIP has not expressed a preference for Fluzone High-Dose or any other licensed inactivated influenza vaccine for use in people age 65 and older.”
Much more via CIDRAP >> ACIP silent on high-dose flu vaccine for elderly.