The Food and Drug Administration's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee voted unanimously Friday to adopt the World Health Organization's recommendations for flu strains to be included in next season's vaccine. Shortly, manufacturers will begin to develop vaccines based on the strains the WHO highlighted, to be ready for distribution by September or November.
The American Pharmacists Association reports the following strains were recommended for the trivalent vaccine:
- A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus
- A/Hong Kong/4801/2014 (H3N2)-like virus
- B/Brisbane/60/2008-like virus (B/Victoria lineage)
For the quadrivelent vaccine, the WHO recommended the inclusion of B/Phuket/3073/2013-like virus (B/Yamagata lineage).
The current flu season vaccine cocktail, which the CDC has found to be 59 percent effective, includes:
- A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus
- A/Switzerland/9715293/2013 (H3N2)-like virus
- B/Phuket/3073/2013-like virus
This year's quadrivalent vaccine included B/Brisbane/60/2008-like virus.