Next year's influenza vaccine chosen

Media release

13 October 2004

Next year's influenza vaccine chosen

Planning has started for next year's influenza immunisation campaign.

At a recent WHO conference in Canberra, Australia, health officials met to decide what strains of influenza should be in the 2005 Southern hemisphere vaccine.

National Influenza Immunisation Strategy Group spokesman Dr Lance Jennings says the updated combination of strains for 2005 now includes a New Zealand strain, the A/Wellington (H3N2) strain.

This is expected to give the best protection against the strains likely to be circulating in New Zealand next year.

Public health officials have this month been receiving queries about the effectiveness of this year's vaccine in the wake of a late burst of reported cases.

The viruses now circulating in New Zealand appear to have drifted from the A/Fujian- like (H3N2) strain in the 2004 vaccine. Analysis of New Zealand viruses carried out by the WHO Influenza Collaborating Centre in Melbourne support this observation, indicating that nearly 41% of these H3N2 viruses screened are of low reactivity.

Dr Jennings says the 2004 influenza season has had a late surge of reported cases during September.

"The flu season has been late this year, and it seems some people who have been vaccinated have been hit by this changing strain." says Dr Jennings.

"While an unlucky few are in this category, I must emphasis that vaccination remains the best protection, particularly for high risk groups. Influenza is very contagious, as it is easily spread between people. It is not like having a cold - it makes people very unwell and miserable for up to ten days and can have serious complications."

The new influenza vaccine will be available in March 2005.