Influenza vaccine how is it made

Cell-based flu vaccines that are produced using CVVs have the potential to be more effective than traditional egg-based flu vaccines. A clinical trial of the previous trivalent formulation of Flucelvax demonstrated effectiveness and safety among persons 18 through 49 years old.

In immunogenicity studies among people 18 years and older and 4 through 17 years old, Flucelvax Quadrivalent was found to produce a similar immune response to the trivalent formulation. Post-vaccination symptoms were typical of those seen with other injectable flu vaccines. Cell culture technology has been used to produce other U.

To receive weekly email updates about Seasonal Flu, enter your email address:. Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link. Influenza Flu. Section Navigation. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate. You may also know that the flu shot changes each year, but how is the vaccine made? Who decides what strains of flu go into the vaccine each year, and how do they make that choice?

Specifically, they monitor which strains of the virus are making people sick, how efficiently those strains are spreading, and how well previous vaccines have worked to combat their targeted viruses.

Scientists at each of the five main centers then gather and analyze the data together to identify new flu strains and to determine which strains of the virus are most likely to spread and cause illness in the upcoming flu season. Consultants from each center then meet twice each year. They meet in February to determine the recommended composition for the yearly flu vaccine to be produced in the northern hemisphere for the upcoming flu season, and they also meet in September to make the same decision for future patients in the southern hemisphere.

The virologic surveillance data used to help make their decision are reported through several different channels. Once the recombinant virus enters a Food and Drug Administration FDA qualified host cell line, it instructs the cells to rapidly produce the HA antigen. This antigen is grown in bulk, collected, purified, and then packaged as recombinant flu vaccine.

These vaccines are then quality and potency tested by FDA prior to FDA approving release of the vaccine lots to the public.

This production method does not require an egg-grown vaccine virus and does not use chicken eggs at all in the production process. While there are other vaccines on the U. This production process is the fastest because it is not limited by the selection of vaccine viruses that are adapted for growth in eggs or the development of cell-based vaccine viruses.

More information about the safety of egg-based, cell-based and recombinant influenza, including adverse events, contraindications and precautions, screening, and safe vaccine administration is available at Seasonal Influenza Vaccine Safety: A Summary for Clinicians. To receive weekly email updates about Seasonal Flu, enter your email address:. Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link.

Influenza Flu. Section Navigation. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate. Minus Related Pages. Selecting Viruses for the Seasonal Influenza Vaccine. In most countries this is still the case and the current trivalent vaccines contain influenza A H3N2 , pandemic A H1N1 and 1 of 2 influenza B lineage viruses. However, recently vaccines which protect against 4 different viruses, including both influenza B lineage viruses quadrivalent vaccines , have become available in some countries.

Regardless of the type or composition of seasonal influenza vaccine, vaccination should be administered annually to provide optimal protection against infection. Since vaccine production takes about 6 months, each year the influenza vaccine is produced under great time pressure requiring timely submission of viruses to the WHO GISRS.

The production of seasonal influenza vaccines is based on viral propagation in embryonated eggs or cell cultures. IIV is approved for use in persons 6 months and older, including pregnant women and persons with chronic medical conditions.