Pressroom

Source: CIDRAP

By: Schnirring, Lisa

02/28/2012

In keeping with the World Health Organization’s recommendations for the 2012-2013 flu season, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee has selected two new strains for the next seasonal flu vaccine. Pharmaceutical companies can now begin work on producing the vaccine. The following strains will be used in the 2012-2013 seasonal flu vaccine: A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)pdm09, the pandemic strain; A/Victoria/361/2011 (H3N2); and B/Wisconsin/1/2010. The committee noted that if a quadrivalent seasonal flu vaccine containing two influenza B strains were produced, the second B strain would be B/Brisbane/60/2008, which is used in the current seasonal flu vaccine.