Flu vaccine for 2011-12 season approved and ready

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDJul 19 2011

According to an announcement from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday, it has approved the new flu vaccine for the season beginning this year. Each year the FDA works with other federal agencies and global health experts to design a vaccine to protect against the three viral strains most likely to cause the flu.

This year’s flu shot will be a duplicate of last year’s because the same flu strains are still circulating say officials. The vaccine will be manufactured by six companies: GlaxoSmithKline, CSL Limited, ID Biomedical Corp., Medimmune Vaccines, Novartis and Sanofi.

Between 5 percent and 20 percent of Americans get the flu each year, leading to 200,000 hospitalizations, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC plans to buy about 18 million of the 2011-2012 doses, primarily for government vaccine programs for children.

The new strains this year include A/California/7/09 (H1N1)-like virus (pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus), A/Perth /16/2009 (H3N2)-like virus and B/Brisbane/60/2008-like virus. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that anyone 6 months and older get the annual vaccine. While the predicted strains may not match the strains that wind up causing the most illness, the annual shot can still help reduce the respiratory disease's severity and may help prevent complications, the FDA said.