Slight delay in 2018 funded influenza vaccines – early and mid-April

Vaccine supply
This year’s funded influenza vaccines contain two different vaccine strains from the 2017 vaccine. This change has resulted in an unavoidable delay in the vaccines’ release:

• Influvac Tetra vaccine will be available from early April (for adults and children aged 3 years and over)
• Fluarix Tetra vaccine will be available from mid-April (for children aged 6-35 months).

The updated strains are:
• A/Singapore/INFIMH/16-0019/2016 (H3N2)-like virus
• B/Phuket/3073/2013-like virus.

We will update this information when the vaccines become available

Retrieved 23/3/18 from: https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/preventative-health-wellness/immunisation/influenza