ACIP recommends FluBlok for 2013-2014 flu season for adults with egg allergies
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted unanimously in favor(13-0) of recommending FluBlok during the 2013-2014 influenza season for vaccination of persons 18 through 49 years of age with egg allergy of any severity.
FluBlok was licensed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in January 2013.
Generic influenza virion
Image/CDC
Unlike current production methods for other available seasonal influenza vaccines, FluBlok does not use the influenza virus or chicken eggs in its manufacturing process, instead Flublok’s novel manufacturing technology allows for production of large quantities of the influenza virus protein, hemagglutinin (HA) – the active ingredient in all inactivated influenza vaccines that is essential for entry of the virus into cells in the body. The majority of antibodies that prevent influenza virus infection are directed against HA.
FluBlok is the first trivalent influenza vaccine made using an insect virus (baculovirus) expression system and recombinant DNA technology.
Flublok contains three, full-length, recombinant hemagglutinin (HA) proteins to help protect against two influenza virus A strains, H1N1 and H3N2, and one influenza virus B strain.
Those who are not within the FDA-approved age range and people with known severe allergic reactions to any component of the vaccine should not receive Flublok.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is a group of medical and public health experts that develops recommendations on how to use vaccines to control diseases in the United States.
The recommendations stand as public health advice that will lead to a reduction in the incidence of vaccine preventable diseases and an increase in the safe use of vaccines and related biological products.
Flublok is manufactured by Protein Sciences Corp, of Meriden, Conn.
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