Influenza Vaccination

Hospitals in the United States implemented new policies based on the severe 2017-2018 influenza season, but experts agree that America’s health care systems would still be seriously challenged by another bad season.

Healio spoke with several experts about the feasibility of developing a pentavalent influenza vaccine to offer greater protection against H3N2. This was the top story in infectious disease last week.

The proportion of outpatient visits attributed to influenza-like illness climbed above the national baseline for the first time this season, comprising 2.5% of visits during the week ending Nov. 16, according to CDC FluView data.

ATLANTA — Limited knowledge about inactivated vaccines, misconceptions and fears, as well as long wait times and accessibility issues are among the leading drivers of influenza vaccine hesitancy among adults with rheumatoid arthritis and juvenile idiopathic arthritis, according to a presenter at ACR/ARP 2019.

HOUSTON — Few patients with severe asthma treated with Nucala received herpes zoster and influenza vaccines in the years that followed, despite CDC and Infectious Disease Society of America guidelines recommending both vaccines, according to study results discussed at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Annual Scientific Meeting.

The FDA approved a supplemental Biologic License Application for the Fluzone High-Dose Quadrivalent vaccine for the prevention of influenza in adults aged 65 years or older, Sanofi announced.

The American Diabetes Association, the American Lung Association and the American Heart Association are working together to urge adults living with chronic diseases to prioritize annual influenza vaccination and to encourage health care providers to advocate for and support influenza immunization within their practices, according to a press release from the organizations.

NEW ORLEANS — In-hospital influenza vaccination may reduce 30-day readmissions, mortality, morbidity and health care resource utilization in adults with community-acquired pneumonia.

Researchers were “encouraged” by the interim results from a phase 1 study of a novel influenza vaccine approach they hope will one day protect patients from both seasonal and pandemic influenza.

The estimated burden of the 2017-2018 influenza season was 48.8 million illnesses, 959,000 hospitalizations and 79,400 deaths, according to the CDC. To ensure that patients are protected throughout the influenza season, the timing of vaccination is critical.