fda panel keeps same vaccine for 2011-12

FDA Panel Keeps Same Formulation for 2011-12 Influenza Vaccine

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/738038

Probably not good news for Tamiflu due to ever increasing resistance.


"February 25, 2011 ? Meet the new influenza vaccine: it's the same as the old one. The trivalent vaccine for the 2011-2012 influenza season in the Northern Hemisphere will probably be essentially a clone of the current season?s vaccine, ruled members of the Vaccine and Related Biologic Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) to the US Food and Drug Administration today...

...After considering the best possible information from worldwide surveillance, the committee chose the strains most likely to provide broad coverage of the population at large, but some committee members confessed to being uneasy about the choice...

... she said inclusion of the influenza B/Brisbane 60/2008-like virus for the third consecutive year is of concern because the current birth cohort may be exposed to other emerging strains not covered in the proposed formulation, such as the influenza B/Yamagata/16/88 lineage, which is less well covered by the current vaccine.