POTENT MIX: The WHO recommends quadrivalent vaccines as the first choice, and they have been adopted by many European countries as well as the US and Japan
Taipei Times
Date: Apr 09, 2019
By: Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
Government-funded influenza vaccinations would be changed from trivalent to
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung, left, and Centers for Disease Control Director-General Chou Jih-haw hold signs announcing upgraded government-funded influenza vaccinations at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.Photo: Wu Liang-yi, Taipei Times
quadrivalent vaccines starting next flu season, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday.
Specialists from the ministry and its affiliated Centers for Disease Control (CDC) held meetings and suggested purchasing quadrivalent flu vaccines for the government-funded vaccination program this year, which was approved by the Cabinet, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said.
“We have decided to administer quadrivalent vaccines,” he said, adding that the Food and Drug Administration is working on their procurement.
The government has been funding a trivalent vaccine that protects against the influenza A (H1N1) strain, the influenza A (H3N2) strain and a Victoria lineage influenza B strain, Chen said.
However, CDC disease monitoring data from the past 10 years showed that two strains of the influenza type B were often circulating at the same time, he said.
Quadrivalent vaccines protect against two strains of the influenza type A strains and two strains of the influenza type B. [FULL STORY]
