Swine flu update: Study shows benefit of combining swine and seasonal flu vaccines

Co-administering doses of both the swine flu and the annual seasonal flu vaccines in separate arms induces a strong response in adults for both the H1N1 pandemic vaccine as well as the seasonal vaccine, according to new research.
Results were released today (November 9) on a clinical trial assessing the administration of one of the two H1N1 pandemic influenza vaccine currently in use in Ireland – Pandemrix, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) – at the same time as the company’s annual seasonal influenza vaccine, Fluarix.
In the trial – which involved 168 adults aged over 60 years of age – 89.3 per cent of those receiving both vaccines at the same time demonstrated a response for the H1N1 virus that was above the regulatory threshold of 1:40 seroprotection, which is considered indicative of protection.
The immune response for the seasonal vaccine also exceeded the regulatory threshold defined by international licensing authorities for registration of the seasonal influenza vaccine each year (69.0 per cent, 78.6 per cent and 100 per cent for A/Brisbane (H1N1), A/Uruguay (H3N2) and B/Brisbane respectively). The composition of the seasonal influenza vaccine was determined before the appearance of the pandemic H1N1 strain.
According to the vaccines’ manufacturer, the results will provide ‘key information’ to public health organisations. “These new data on the co-administration of both the seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccines could help simplify the influenza vaccination programmes that countries are now starting to initiate,” said Jean Stéphenne, President of GSK Biologicals.