Influenza vaccine name

This year's annual flu shot will provide protection against four of the influenza viruses expected to be most common during this flu season. High-dose flu vaccines will be available for adults age 65 and older. Influenza, often called the flu, is an infection of the nose, throat and lungs, also called the respiratory system. Influenza can cause serious complications, especially in children age 2 or younger, pregnant people, adults over age 65 and people with certain medical conditions. By some estimates, the flu causes more than 400,000 hospital stays and 50,000 deaths every year. Getting an influenza vaccine — though not 100% effective — is the best way to prevent the misery of the flu and its complications. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends annual flu vaccination for everyone age 6 months or older. The flu vaccine can lower your risk of getting the flu. It also can lower the risk of having serious illness from the flu and needing to stay in the hospital. Here are the answers to common questions about flu shots: Private manufacturers make the flu vaccine. It takes about six months. The availability of the flu vaccine depends on when production is completed. But generally, shipments begin sometime in August each year in the United States. Health care providers may begin vaccinating people as soon as the flu vaccine is available in their areas. It takes up to two weeks to build immunity after a flu shot. But you can benefit from the vaccine eve...

What is influenza? We know now that Early attempts at a vaccine during the 1918 influenza pandemic were based on this understanding, and it was not until the 1930s, when the influenza virus was identified, that progress towards an effective vaccine could really begin. Influenza – also known as the ‘flu’– is a highly contagious respiratory illness, which spreads easily through the air or when people touch contaminated surfaces. In many cases the disease is mild, with symptoms such as chills, fever and fatigue, and it can also be spread through asymptomatic infections in people who do not even know they are sick. But the flu can also result in serious complications, particularly in vulnerable people like young children, older persons, pregnant women and people with medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes or heart disease. The most common complication is pneumonia, typically caused by a secondary bacterial infection. Flu viruses mutate very rapidly, and uncontrolled spread gives rise to many different strains, which fall into 2 main types affecting humans – influenza A and influenza B. “The mother of all pandemics” The H1N1 influenza pandemic that swept across the world from 1918 to 1919, sometimes called “the mother of all pandemics”, involved a particularly virulent new strain of the influenza A virus. The first wave of infections in early 1918 resulted in mild illness, but a second wave later that year was more deadly. The 1918 pandemic is estimated to have infected 50...

The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2023 with a look back at our remarkable accomplishments and significant moments in public health history. Special thanks to the NFID leaders who offered their reflections on the anniversary of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendation of universal influenza (flu) vaccination for everyone age 6 months and older, on February 24, 2010. According to an archived What was the significance of the recommendation for universal flu vaccination? William Schaffner, MD (NFID Medical Director): The universal flu vaccination recommendation (that is, vaccinate everyone age 6 months and older) was a bold game-changer. It made the protection provided by flu vaccine available to essentially the entire US population, both children and adults—something that no other country had done. It made understanding and remembering the recommendation very simple for both healthcare professionals and the public, thereby encouraging wider acceptance of the vaccine. The universal recommendation also had a larger role. It long had been acknowledged that risk-based vaccination recommendations for all sorts of vaccines for adults did not translate readily into practice. Thus, the universal influenza vaccine recommendation “broke the ice,” encouraging ACIP to consider universal recommendations for adults in certain age groups. Shingles, hepatitis B, and pneumococcal vaccines are current exampl...

Vaccination is the most effective way to prevent infection and severe outcomes caused by influenza viruses. Development and production of influenza vaccines, planning for their supplies and use as well as provision of other respective health care resources are essential components of a comprehensive seasonal and pandemic influenza response. For more than 50 years, WHO has been collaborating with scientists and policy makers on a global scale to develop a unified approach to manufacturing, testing and regulatory oversight of influenza vaccine development as well as their efficient use and distribution. CDC/ Robert Denty In this 2017 photo, captured inside a clinical setting, a health care provider was placing a bandage on the injection site of a child, who had just received a seasonal influenza vaccine. Children younger than 5-years-old, and especially those younger than 2-years-old, are at high risk of developing serious flu-related complications. A flu vaccine offers the best defense against flu, and its potentially serious consequences, and can also reduce the spread of flu to others. The constantly evolving nature of influenza viruses requires continuous global monitoring and frequent reformulation of influenza vaccines. The World Health Organization (WHO) convenes technical consultations in February and September each year to recommend viruses for inclusion in seasonal influenza vaccines for the northern and southern hemispheres, respectively. These recommendations are...