High-Dose Flu Vaccine

Up to 1.6 million people were sickened with influenza from Oct 1. through Nov. 11, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.

Federal vaccine advisers now recommend that adults aged 65 and older preferentially receive high-dose influenza vaccines for the best protection against severe illness.

A post-vaccination study has found that high-dose and standard adjuvanted influenza vaccines are equally safe in older adults and have virtually the same short-term effects on quality of life.

A high-dose, trivalent influenza vaccine was no more effective at preventing heart- and lung-related death and hospitalization than a standard-dose quadrivalent vaccine, the researchers say.

A high-dose flu vaccine with four times the amount of antigen in a standard vaccine was 24% more effective in protecting study subjects 65 and older against influenza complications.

We are training our staff, residents and family members on the annual flu vaccines. I hear that this year a high-dose vaccine is available. Does Fluzone High-Dose influenza vaccine work better?

A flurry of recent studies has shown that flu shots don’t offer much protection against influenza in elderly people who have received the vaccine, a recent report suggests.