This is the first year for availability of what is called a quadrivalent flu vaccine, which protects against four strains instead of the three covered for the past 35 years. Take a POLL.
A new flu vaccine available for the first time this year protects against an additional strain of the illness, and it is of the type blamed in nearly half of flu-related deaths in children and teenagers, according to the manufacturer.
But it won’t be available to everyone at public clinics. That’s partly because of the age range being targeted and partly because a major supplier’s vaccine gained U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval months after vaccine was ordered for upcoming clinics, local health officials said.
The supplier, Swiftwater, Monroe County-based Sanofi Pasteur, announced shipments began Wednesday for its 2013-14 flu season vaccines.
This is the first year for availability of what is called a quadrivalent flu vaccine, FDA spokesman Curtis Allen said. In addition to Sanofi Pasteur’s injectable Fluzone vaccine, approved by the FDA last month, quadrivalent vaccines are made by GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals as an injection and MedImmune LLC in an intranasal mist, according to the FDA.
All of the quadrivalent vaccines are formulated to protect against the same four specific strains of flu, according to the FDA. Trivalent vaccines in use since 1978 covered three strains, Sanofi Pasteur says.
The trivalent vaccine protected against two Type A strains and one Type B strain, while the quadrivalent version protects against an additional Type B. In recent years, up to 44 percent of influenza-related deaths in children and adolescents 18 years old and younger were due to influenza B, according to Sanofi Pasteur.
“We feel it is most beneficial in children,” said Donna K. Cary, spokeswoman for Sanofi Pasteur.
The Warren County Public Health Nursing Agency plans to distribute a quadrivalent injection at its clinics only to children, ages 6 months to 18 years old, said Helen Haydu, assistant public health nursing supervisor for community health.
Others taking part in Warren County clinics — they are open to the public regardless of where someone lives — will get a trivalent injection. Those ages 65 and older will receive a high dose meant to offer protection amid waning immunity, Haydu said.
“We have actually three that we’re offering this year,” Haydu said, noting the cost is $20 for each, though Medicare covers the cost for people 65 and older.
The Bethlehem Health Bureau plans to offer a quadrivalent vaccine in the nasal mist made by Gaithersburg, Md.-based MedImmune, said Stephanie Oakley, the bureau’s community health nurse and immunization coordinator.
But it will only be available to city residents who qualify, meaning they have no or insufficient insurance, Oakley said. Others can get Sanofi Pasteur’s trivalent injection for $10.
Oakley said the city participates in a Pennsylvania-run distribution of free vaccine for people in need. The Pennsylvania Department of Health says free vaccines are restricted based on federal guidelines that come with federal funding.
“The mist was always free but because it comes from the state we have to follow their regulations of who we give it to,” Oakley said. “That’s why we have the fee for service.”
Bethlehem didn’t buy quadrivalent vaccine to distribute for a fee because the city placed its order with Sanofi Pasteur in January, well ahead of the FDA’s approval last month of the company’s quadrivalent Fluzone, Oakley said.
“So most people are going to get stuck with the trivalent,” she said. “It was out of our control because the quadrivalent came out so late in the season.”
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CLINICS TO BE ANNOUNCED
The Bethlehem Health Bureau and Warren County Public Health Nursing Agency are still finalizing clinic schedules for this fall. Warren County does, however, have a drive-through clinic set for 3 to 6 p.m. Sept. 18 at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, 214 Route 31 North in Washington Township, N.J.
Lehigh Valley Health Network, which has operated drive-through clinics in recent years at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown and Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom in South Whitehall Township, is still reviewing which vaccine to use this year, spokeswoman Tracey Sechler said.