About flu
Vaccine Types
Vaccine Types
What are flu vaccinations and
how can your team benefit from them?
Flu vaccines cause a person’s immune system to develop antibodies to protect against infection from the flu strains likely to be in circulation in the coming winter.
Flu vaccinations are one of the simplest and most effective ways of protecting your employees health and wellbeing. We know that as a company you are concerned about business continuity and the welfare of your staff. It is important to get the right protection for you and your employees this coming flu season. As a leading provider of corporate flu vaccination programmes we offer a variety of vaccine types to meet your employees every need.
What types of vaccines do we stock?
To ensure you and your team have the best level of protection against the flu this year, we are recommending and making available the following vaccinations:
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Quadrivalent vaccine
The Quadrivalent flu vaccine is designed to protect against four different flu viruses including two Influenza A viruses and two Influenza B viruses. It can be administered as an injection or as a nasal spray depending on the age of the recipient.Benefits
- Injected Quadrivalent vaccine: Suitable for those aged 6 months to 64 years old
- Nasal Quadrivalent spray: Suitable for those aged 2 - 18 years
Considerations
- Injected & Nasal Quadrivalent vaccine: Contains traces of egg protein - not suitable for those with severe egg allergies
- Nasal Quadrivalent spray: Contains traces of gelatin - not suitable for those who have religious or dietary preferences
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Adjuvanted Quadrivalent vaccine
The quadrivalent vaccine, FluAd, is designed to protect against four different flu viruses including two Influenza A viruses and two Influenza B viruses. The adjuvant generates a greater immune response in older adults, making it the preferred option for seniors who require more flu protection.Benefits
- The most suitable for those who are 65 years and older
Considerations
- Contains an adjuvant, an immune stimulant, to boost the immune response
- Contains traces of egg protein - Not suitable for those with severe egg allergies
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Cell based vaccine
Similarly to the quadrivalent vaccine, it provides protection from four different flu viruses including two Influenza A viruses and two Influenza B viruses. This vaccine is made from cell grown cultures rather than egg proteins.Benefits
- Suitable for those aged 2 years to 64 years old
- Recommended for those with severe egg allergies
- Can be administered to those who for religious or dietary preferences would prefer not to receive a vaccination containing egg
Considerations
- Not suitable for infants and children under 2 years of age.
How effective is the flu vaccine?
Flu vaccinations are approximately 70-80% effective
Whilst no vaccine is 100% effective, vaccinating your workforce is the best defence against flu. An annual flu jab will help protect your team from suffering with flu or passing it onto others in the workplace and at home. Protection is not instant, it usually takes 14 days to develop antibodies against the flu strains vaccinated against and provide protection against influenza virus infection.
Every flu season there are different flu strains that circulate. Flu strains can mutate which is why the composition of flu vaccinations changes every year.
The WHO uses sophisticated systems for monitoring circulating strains of flu around the world, so it is usually possible to predict which strains are most likely to cause trouble, with considerable accuracy.
At flujabs.org, we have consistently supported the use of the Quadrivalent vaccine, on the basis that it significantly increases the probability of good protection.
What’s in the 2022/2023 flu jab?
This year the standard quadrivalent vaccine includes:
- an A/Victoria/2570/2019 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus;
- an A/Darwin/9/2021 (H3N2)-like virus;
- a B/Austria/1359417/2021 (B/Victoria lineage)-like virus; and
- a B/Phuket/3073/2013 (B/Yamagata lineage)-like virus.
This year the egg-free quadrivalent vaccine includes:
- an A/Wisconsin/588/2019 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus;
- an A/Darwin/6/2021 (H3N2)-like virus;
- a B/Austria/1359417/2021 (B/Victoria lineage)-like virus; and
- a B/Phuket/3073/2013 (B/Yamagata lineage)-like virus.