Bethel Visiting Nurse Association Offers Flu Vaccine to Bethel Community Members

Report by Paula Antolini
January 22, 2018 2:15PM EDT

 

Bethel Visiting Nurse Association Offers Flu Vaccine to Bethel Community Members

Bethel Visiting Nurse Association is offering flu shots to Bethel Community Members who are looking to be vaccinated.

The flu vaccine is available for those who are 3 years and older, Monday-Friday, 9:30am-3:00pm at 70 Stony Hill Road, Bethel.

We ask that you call to make an appointment at 203-792-0864, to ensure vaccine is available, but we will accept walk-ins.

 

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

New Flu Information for 2017-2018

Getting an annual flu vaccine is the first and best way to protect yourself and your family from the flu. Flu vaccination can reduce flu illnesses, doctors’ visits, and missed work and school due to flu, as well as prevent flu-related hospitalizations. In 2017, a study in Pediatrics was the first of its kind to show that flu vaccination also significantly reduced a child’s risk of dying from influenza. The more people who get vaccinated, the more people will be protected from flu, including older people, very young children, pregnant women, and people with certain long-term health conditions who are more vulnerable to serious flu complications. This page summarizes information for the 2017-2018 flu season.

What’s new this flu season?

A few things are new this season:

• The recommendation to not use the nasal spray flu vaccine (LAIV) was renewed for the 2017-2018 season. Only injectable flu shots are recommended for use again this season.
• Flu vaccines have been updated to better match circulating viruses (the influenza A(H1N1) component was updated).
• Pregnant women may receive any licensed, recommended, and age-appropriate flu vaccine.
• A quadrivalent recombinant flu vaccine (“Flublok Quadrivalent” RIV) is newly available this season. (Last season, only trivalent recombinant flu vaccine was available.)
• A quadrivalent inactivated flu vaccine, “Afluria Quadrivalent” IIV, was licensed last season after the annual recommendations were published.
• The age recommendation for “Flulaval Quadrivalent” has been changed from 3 years old and older to 6 months and older to be consistent with FDA-approved labeling.
• The trivalent formulation of Afluria is recommended for people 5 years and older (from 9 years and older) in order to match the Food and Drug Administration package insert.
• For the first time, a cell-grown H3N2 vaccine reference virus was used to produce the H3N2 component of the cell-based vaccine, Flucelvax. (The remaining Flucelvax vaccine components were manufactured using egg-grown reference viruses.) For more information, see the questions: “Why is it significant that a cell-grown vaccine reference virus (H3N2) was used to produce flu vaccine?” and “Is flu vaccine made using a cell-grown reference virus and cell-based technology more effective than vaccine made using an egg-grown reference virus and egg-based technology?”

What flu vaccines are recommended this season?

This season, only injectable flu vaccines (flu shots) are recommended. Some flu shots protect against three flu viruses and some protect against four flu viruses.

Options this season include:

• Standard dose flu shots. Most are given into the muscle (usually with a needle, but one can be given to some people with a jet injector). One is given into the skin.
• High-dose shots for older people.
• Shots made with adjuvant for older people.
• Shots made with virus grown in cell culture.
• Shots made using a vaccine production technology (recombinant vaccine) that does not require the use of flu virus.

Live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) – or the nasal spray vaccine – is not recommended for use during the 2017-2018 season because of concerns about its effectiveness.

There is a table showing all the flu vaccines that are FDA-approved for use in the United States during the 2017-2018 season.

What viruses will the 2017-2018 flu vaccines protect against?

There are many different flu viruses and they are constantly changing. The composition of U.S. flu vaccines is reviewed annually and updated as needed to match circulating flu viruses. Flu vaccines protect against the three or four viruses (depending on vaccine) that research suggests will be most common. For 2017-2018, three-component vaccines are recommended to contain:

• an A/Michigan/45/2015 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus (updated)
• an A/Hong Kong/4801/2014 (H3N2)-like virus
• a B/Brisbane/60/2008-like (B/Victoria lineage) virus

Quadrivalent (four-component) vaccines, which protect against a second lineage of B viruses, are recommended to be produced using the same viruses recommended for the trivalent vaccines, as well as a B/Phuket/3073/2013-like (B/Yamagata lineage) virus.

When should I get vaccinated?

Can I get a flu vaccine if I am allergic to eggs?

The recommendations for people with egg allergies are the same as last season.

• People who have experienced only hives after exposure to egg can get any licensed flu vaccine that is otherwise appropriate for their age and health.
• People who have symptoms other than hives after exposure to eggs, such as angioedema, respiratory distress, lightheadedness, or recurrent emesis; or who have needed epinephrine or another emergency medical intervention, also can get any licensed flu vaccine that is otherwise appropriate for their age and health, but the vaccine should be given in a medical setting and be supervised by a health care provider who is able to recognize and manage severe allergic conditions. (Settings include hospitals, clinics, health departments, and physician offices). People with egg allergies no longer have to wait 30 minutes after receiving their vaccine.

 

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