Is the Flu Vaccine for You? Educate Yourself – Read the Product Inserts First.

Here are the 2012-2013 US flu vaccine names (manufacturer), claimed indications and package inserts.

The product package inserts are always a good place to start in your research on vaccines. These are the “regulated” documents that vaccine makers must produce for the FDA after clinical trials. From here you will certainly have many questions, and can do more research. Please note that package insert information is useful but not complete. Not all types of adverse events are included and the products are studied for limited periods of time during trials. No vaccine has been evaluated for mutagenicity, carcinogenicity or impairment of fertility. Package inserts also do not give adverse events which occur when several vaccines are given concomitantly. Many vaccine ingredients are not revealed as they are trade secrets (eg peanut oil) and some ingredients are discovered long after a vaccine has been on the market (eg pig virus DNA in Rotavirus vaccines, SV40 in Polio vaccines, recombinant HPV DNA in Gardasil).

NOTE:
– A recent comparison of VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) fetal-loss reports during three consecutive influenza seasons showed a possible relationship to miscarriage. “The observed reporting bias was too low to explain the magnitude increase in fetal-demise reporting rates in the VAERS database relative to the reported annual trends. Thus, a synergistic fetal toxicity likely resulted from the administration of both the pandemic (A-H1N1) and seasonal influenza vaccines during the 2009/2010 season.” Click here to read the study.

– The Cochrane Collaboration’s examination of flu vaccines in healthy adults, a body of literature spanning 25 studies and involving 59,566 people, finds an annual flu shot reduced overall clinical influenza by about six percent. Click here to read the study.

AFLURIA (CSL Ltd.)

Claimed Indication: For active immunization of persons ages 5 years and older against influenza disease caused by influenza virus subtypes A and type B present in the vaccine-

 

Fluarix (GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals)

Claimed Indication: For active immunization against influenza for individuals 3 years of age or older and to include the data from pediatric clinical studies with revision of the prescribing information for Fluarix®.-

 

FluMist (MedImmune, LLC)

Claimed Indication: For the active immunization of individuals 2-49 years of age against influenza disease caused by influenza virus subtypes A and type B contained in the vaccine.

Fluvirin (Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Limited)

Claimed Indication:For active immunization of persons 4 years of age and older against influenza disease caused by influenza virus subtypes A and type B contained in the vaccine.

 

Fluzone, Fluzone High-Dose and Fluzone Intradermal (Sanofi Pasteur, Inc.)

Claimed Indications:

FluLaval (ID Biomedical Corporation of Quebec)

Claimed indication: Active immunization of adults 18 years of age and older against influenza disease caused by influenza virus subtypes A and type B contained in the vaccine.   Package Insert – FluLaval (PDF – 149KB)