Half-Dose Flu Shot Works Well in Yo... (the validity of a dose reduction strateg...)

Half-Dose Flu Shot Works Well in Young Adults

Date:12/8/2008

the validity of a dose reduction strategy in the setting of vaccine shortages," the researchers wrote. "Reduced dosing could have a significant impact on the response to vaccine shortages, particularly at a local level when faced with considerable delays in vaccine supply delivery."

Engler and colleagues also found that women of all ages had a greater immune response to both doses of the flu vaccine than men. Women who received the half dose had similar antibody responses as men who received the full dose.

"These findings suggest that guidelines for vaccine use during shortages should take sex, as well as age, into consideration. As recommendations for influenza expand and evidence that elderly persons [men older than 60 years] may require higher doses of vaccine for optimal responses, reduced doses in healthy, younger populations may become a valuable national strategy," the study authors concluded.

Instead of trying to find ways to stretch vaccine supplies, better methods of flu vaccine production are needed, Dr. Ann R. Falsey, of Rochester General Hospital, N.Y., said in an accompanying editorial.

"Although the results of this study are useful and can provide a guide to extending the vaccine supply during periods of shortage, perhaps the real message of this study is that better methods of influenza vaccine production that are less prone to problems are clearly needed," she wrote.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about preventing seasonal flu.

-- Robert Preidt

SOURCE: JAMA/Archives journals, news release, Dec. 8, 2008

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