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Fitzgerald Health Education Associates, Inc., March 2015 fhea.com
Total Overhaul of 2015 Flu Vaccine
Advised
A panel of FDA advisors recommended a complete
overhaul of both the trivalent and quadrivalent in-
fluenza vaccines for the 2015-2016 season. The in-
fluenza vaccine has included the same strains for the
last two flu seasons, but this year's vaccine reduced
the chances that someone needs to seek medical
help for influenza by only 19%, versus 60% or more
in most years, according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC).
This season's influenza vaccine mostly failed
to protect against the predominant A strain,
A/Switzerland/9715293/2013-like virus (H3N2). The
Switzerland strain was hardly circulating when FDA
advisors formulated US vaccine recommendations
in February 2014. Only in late summer was it ap-
parent that the Switzerland strain was the main ill-
ness-causing agent, according to
Lisa Grohskopf, MD, a medical
officer with the CDC's Influenza
Division.
The disappointing effectiveness
of the flu vaccine for the winter of
2014-2015, which largely failed to
protect against the predominant
A strain, hit older Americans espe-
cially hard. There have been at
least 14,000 hospitalizations
through February 21, with the rate
of hospitalizations among those over
age 65 the highest it has been since the CDC began
surveillance of hospitalizations in 2005, Dr. Grohs -
kopf said. There has also been a large number of
pediatric cases and nearly 100 deaths in children.
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