TUESDAY, Aug. 31, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Licensed and age-appropriate vaccines for influenza are recommended for the 2021 to 2022 season for all persons aged 6 months or older who do not have contraindications, according to research published in the Aug. 27 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Lisa A. Grohskopf, M.D., from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues updated the 2020 to 2021 recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) regarding the use of seasonal influenza vaccines.
The authors note that for persons aged 6 months or older who do not have contraindications, routine annual influenza vaccination is recommended. A licensed and age-appropriate vaccine should be used for each recipient. When more than one licensed, recommended, age-appropriate vaccine is available, ACIP makes no preferential recommendations. Inactivated influenza vaccine, recombinant vaccine, and live attenuated influenza vaccine are expected to be available during the 2021 to 2022 season. Updates in this report include that all seasonal influenza vaccines for 2021 to 2022 will be quadrivalent and the composition of 2021 to 2022 influenza vaccines includes updates to the influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 and influenza A(H3N2) components. Providers should consult current ACIP recommendations concerning coadministration of influenza and COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccines given at the same time should be administered in different anatomical sites.
“The 2021-22 influenza season is expected to coincide with continued circulation of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2,” the authors write. “Influenza vaccination of persons aged ≥6 months to reduce prevalence of illness caused by influenza will reduce symptoms that might be confused with those of COVID-19.”
One author disclosed employment at Abt Associates; one author disclosed financial ties to Sanofi Pasteur.
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