New Flu Vaccine to Target Strain First Found on Pacific Island

Federal advisors deciding the formula for next winter’s influenza vaccine agreed Friday on a new component to combat a strain first found on a South Pacific island. They deferred a final decision on two other components.

The experts selected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration base their decisions on worldwide monitoring of influenza outbreaks to determine the best vaccine to offer in the United States.

The final choices are to be made by March and will affect the 60 million to 80 million Americans who receive flu shots annually.

The advisors agreed a new component should be made to protect against a Type A flu subtype that was first identified in New Caledonia but will wait for more data on this season’s outbreaks before selecting the major Type A and Type B portions of the vaccine.

The advisors heard evidence that a dangerous flu strain, Type A Sydney, continues to circulate worldwide, despite having first been found three years ago.

Nancy Cox, chief of the influenza branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the lack of change in the Sydney strain was surprising because the flu virus tends to mutate rapidly.

“We’re really looking for a distinct new variant, and we haven’t seen one,” Cox said.

CDC’s Kaiji Fukuda, who tracks the spread of flu, said the agency was analyzing why there have been more deaths this flu season.