FDA panel recommends strains for 2014-2015 flu vaccine

The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee accepted the recommendations of WHO for the components of the 2014-2015 seasonal influenza vaccine.

Perspective from Pedro A. Piedra, MD

The vaccine for next year’s influenza season will remain the same as the 2013-2014 season and include:

• Influenza A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus.

• Influenza A/Texas/50/2012-like virus.

• Influenza B/Massachusetts/2/2012-like virus.

For quadrivalent vaccines, the committee recommended the virus contain a second influenza B virus, B/Brisbane/60/2008-like virus, which is part of the B/Victoria lineage, and the recommended strain from the 2013-2014 season.

“In order to change a vaccine virus, typically what we’re looking for is a new antigenic variant or a vaccine virus and egg grown virus that behaves better in some way than the previous vaccine virus,” Director of the Influenza Division at CDC, Nancy Cox, PhD, said during the meeting. “For all influenza groups that we discussed today whether they are B viruses the H3 variants, or H1 we have not detected a new antigenic variant.”

Using the same influenza strains in 2014-2015 season should also benefit the manufacturing process, according to Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee Member Edgar K. Marcuse, MD, MPH, professor of pediatrics and adjunct professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington and associate medical director of quality improvement at Seattle Children’s Hospital.

“Because the flu virus types for 2014-15 vaccines are the same as are in this year's vaccines, it is likely manufacturers will be able to deliver an ample supply next fall,” he told Infectious Diseases in Children.

Perspective

Pedro A. Piedra, MD

On Feb. 28, 2014, the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee of the FDA voted collectively to retain the current vaccine strains for the 2014-2015 influenza vaccines in the United States. One week earlier, WHO had recommended maintaining the 2013-14 influenza vaccine strains for the Northern Hemisphere. It is expected that approximately 50% of the 2014-2015 influenza vaccines available for the 2014-2015 influenza season will be the quadrivalent formulation. This year the dominant circulating influenza virus in the United States was influenza A/California/7/2009 (H1H1) pdm09. Evidence of significant drift or strain variation from the viruses included in the 2013-2014 influenza vaccine has not been observed, and thus the influenza vaccine formulation remains unchanged.

Pedro A. Piedra, MD

Infectious Diseases in Children Editorial Board Member

Disclosures: Piedra reports no relevant financial disclosures.