About flu
Flu Vaccine Types
Flu 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 each 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 in place as each flu season approaches.
As a leading provider of corporate flu vaccination programmes we offer a variety of vaccine types to meet your employees' every need.
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?
Flu vaccines are not all the same. To ensure you and your team have the best level of protection, we offer the widest choice of vaccines and vaccine technologies available.
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Cell-Based Quadrivalent
The Cell-Based Quadrivalent flu vaccine, like the other vaccines, also provides protection from four different flu virus strains. This vaccine is made from cell-grown cultures rather than using eggs, and may provide a closer match to circulating “wild” flu viruses than the Standard Quadrivalent option. Recommended.Benefits
- Slightly stronger immune response compared to egg-based vaccines
- Recommended for those with concerns about egg allergy or wishing to avoid egg-based vaccines
- Suitable for: religious or dietary preferences against egg-based vaccines
Considerations
- Suitable for: Ages 2 years to 64 years old
- Not egg-based
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Standard Quadrivalent
The Standard Quadrivalent flu vaccine is made using egg-based technology and designed to protect against four different flu virus strains. This is still the most widely used flu vaccine, and is generally more widely given than the newer options (recombinant / cell-based).Benefits
- Offers good general protection for healthy adults at a lower price point.
- Can be used for children if the nasal spray vaccine is not suitable or unavailable.
Considerations
- Suitable for: Ages 6 months to 64 years old
- May contain traces of egg protein
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Adjuvanted Quadrivalent
The Adjuvanted Quadrivalent flu vaccine, FluAd, is designed to protect against four different flu virus strains. The adjuvant generates a greater immune response in older adults. Like the recombinant vaccine, this is therefore a preferred option for seniors who require more flu protection. It is not used for under-65s.Benefits
- Contains an adjuvant - an immune stimulant to boost the immune response
Considerations
- Suitable for: Ages 65 years and older
- May contain traces of egg protein
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 way to protect your business 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 present in the vaccine, which provide protection against influenza virus infection.
Every flu season there are different flu strains that circulate. Flu viruses 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.
Although designed to protect against the same WHO-recommended strains, flu vaccines are manufactured using a range of different technologies. As a result of a production failure, one major type of vaccine – recombinant flu vaccine – will not be available in the UK this year, though we expect they will return next year.
At the Fleet Street Clinic, our vaccines of first choice this year would be cell-based vaccines for adults aged under 60 (it is also licensed for children over 2); and Flu HD – a high-dose vaccine available in the UK for the first time this season – licensed for those aged 60 and over.
Don’t miss out on other important vaccines to protect against respiratory infection. There are several to think about: Covid-19, Whooping Cough for adults, Pneumonia and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). You can easily add these on to your workplace flu vaccination programme – speak with your account manager when booking.
What’s in the standard 2024/2025 flu jab?
This year the Standard Quadrivalent vaccine includes:
- an A/Victoria/4897/2022 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus;
- an A/Thailand/8/2022 (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 Cell-Based Quadrivalent vaccine includes:
- an A/Wisconsin/67/2022 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus;
- an A/Massachusetts/18/2022 (H3N2)-like virus;
- a B/Austria/1359417/2021 (B/Victoria lineage)-like virus; and
- a B/Phuket/3073/2013 (B/Yamagata lineage)-like virus.