Flu Vaccine composition for the 2023 Flu Season

Each year the World Health Organization (WHO) puts forward its recommendations for the composition of influenza virus for us in the Southern Hemisphere influenza season.

The AIVC recommends that  Quadrivalent Influenza Vaccines (four strains) contain the below strains. There is one change from the 2022 influenza season. The Australian Influenza Vaccine Committee (AIVC) will follow the WHO recommendations.

Egg-based quadrivalent influenza vaccines:

• an A/Sydney/5/2021 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus;
• an A/Darwin/9/2021 (H3N2)-like virus;
• a B/Austria/1359417/2021 (B/Victoria lineage)-like virus; and
• a B/Phuket/3073/2013 (B/Yamagata lineage)-like virus.

Cell- or recombinant-based quadrivalent influenza vaccines:

• an A/Sydney/5/2021 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus;
• an A/Darwin/6/2021 (H3N2)-like virus;
• a B/Austria/1359417/2021 (B/Victoria lineage)-like virus; and
• a B/Phuket/3073/2013 (B/Yamagata lineage)-like virus.

This recommendation aligns with the recommendations made by the WHO (Further details here https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/recommended-composition-of-influenza-virus-vaccines-for-use-in-the-2023-southern-hemisphere-influenza-season).

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has accepted the recommendations of the AIVC.