Southern Hemisphere Flu Vaccine 2020 recommendation
Flu Vaccine Strains for 2020
Southern Hemisphere influenza season
On the 27th of September 2018, the WHO recommended the composition of influenza virus vaccines for use in Australia and the entire Southern Hemisphere 2019 flu vaccination season.
It was recommended (1) that Quadrivalent Influenza Vaccines (four strains) contain two the below strains. There were two changes from the 2018 influenza season:
- an A/Michigan/45/2015 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus;
- an A/Switzerland/8060/2017 (H3N2)-like virus; (New strain)
- a B/Colorado/06/2017-like virus (B/Victoria/2/87 lineage); and (New strain)
- a B/Phuket/3073/2013-like virus (B/Yamagata/16/88 lineage).
For the 2019 flu vaccination season in Australia, the Australian Influenza Vaccine Committee (AIVC) followed the WHO recommendation for all egg-based Quadrivalent vaccines.
We expect to get more news about the strains for 2020 in October.
Stay tuned!
1. Australian Government, Dept Health and Ageing, Therapeutic Goods Administration. AIVC recommendations for the composition of influenza vaccine for Australia in 2019. Found at: http://www.tga.gov.au/aivc-recommendations-composition-influenza-vaccine-australia-2019
