Hospital.Help

Berlin – Since September 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been recommending switching from quadrivalent to trivalent influenza vaccines without the B/Yamagata line. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) followed this recommendation in March. Now the Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO) has adjusted its influenza vaccination recommendation.

The WHO justified the move by saying that since March 2020 there have been few cases of natural influenza disease with B/Yamagata and that it can therefore be assumed that there is no longer any worldwide circulation of this strain.

Therefore, the B/Yamagata component should be removed from all influenza vaccines as soon as possible to avoid the theoretical risk of reintroduction of B/Yamagata lineage viruses during vaccine production or through the use of quadrivalent live vaccines.

According to the STIKO, the availability of a trivalent live-attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) is expected in Germany from the 2024/2025 season. The availability of trivalent inactivated influenza vaccines, on the other hand, is not expected until the 2025/2026 season. It is currently not possible to predict with certainty to what extent which vaccine will be available and when, it said.

The STIKO now recommends an annual vaccination in the autumn for people over the age of 60 with an inactivated high-dose influenza vaccine or, if indicated, for people over the age of six months with an inactivated influenza vaccine (standard dose) with the antigen combination recommended by the WHO. Children and adolescents between the ages of two and seventeen can alternatively be vaccinated with a LAIV, provided there is no contraindication.

According to the accompanying STIKO application instructions for the 2024/2025 season, the use of inactivated quadrivalent vaccines (not live vaccines) is still possible during the transition period (up to a maximum of the 2025/2026 season).

In case no trivalent LAIV is available, the use of an inactivated influenza vaccine (killed vaccine) is recommended. It is not recommended to use a quadrivalent LAIV in the 2024/2025 season. © aha/aerzteblatt.de