BRIEF—EU recommendations for 2018/2019 seasonal flu vaccine composition

26 March 2018

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has issued the European Union (EU) recommendations for the influenza virus strains that vaccine manufacturers should include in vaccines for the prevention of seasonal influenza from autumn/fall 2018.

Trivalent vaccines for the 2018/2019 season should contain these three virus strains:

an A/Michigan/45/2015 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus;
an A/Singapore/INFIMH-16-0019/2016 (H3N2)-like virus;
a B/Colorado/06/2017-like virus (B/Victoria/2/87 lineage).

For quadrivalent vaccines with two influenza B viruses, a B/Phuket/3073/2013-like virus in addition to the strains mentioned above is considered appropriate.

These recommendations also apply to the manufacture of live attenuated influenza vaccines. The EU advice is based on World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.