(Aug. 30, 2024) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices published its 2024-2025 Influenza Season recommendations. Routine annual influenza vaccination is recommended for all persons aged older than six months who do not have contraindications. Trivalent inactivated influenza vaccines, trivalent recombinant influenza vaccine and trivalent live attenuated influenza vaccine are expected to be available.
All persons should receive an age-appropriate influenza vaccine, with the exception that solid organ transplant recipients aged 18 through 64 years who are receiving immunosuppressive medication regimens may receive either high-dose inactivated influenza vaccine or adjuvanted inactivated influenza vaccine as acceptable options (without a preference over other age-appropriate IIV3s or RIV3). Except for vaccination for adults aged older than 65 years, ACIP makes no preferential recommendation for a specific vaccine when more than one licensed and recommended vaccine is available.
ACIP recommends that adults aged older than 65 years preferentially receive any one of the following higher-dose or adjuvanted influenza vaccines: trivalent high-dose inactivated influenza vaccine, trivalent recombinant influenza vaccine or trivalent adjuvanted inactivated influenza vaccine. If none of these three vaccines is available at an opportunity for vaccine administration, then any other age-appropriate influenza vaccine should be used.
All influenza vaccines available in the United States during the 2024–25 season will be trivalent vaccines containing hemagglutinin derived from 1) an influenza A/Victoria/4897/2022 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus (for egg-based vaccines) or an influenza A/Wisconsin/67/2022 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus (for cell culture-based and recombinant vaccines); 2) an influenza A/Thailand/8/2022 (H3N2)-like virus (for egg-based vaccines) or an influenza A/Massachusetts/18/2022 (H3N2)-like virus (for cell culture-based and recombinant vaccines); and 3) an influenza B/Austria/1359417/2021 (Victoria lineage)-like virus.
Read the full CDC ACIP 2024 – 2025 Influenza Season Recommendations. Medicare B vaccine pricing information has been updated for the 2024 – 2025 seasonal flu vaccine.
--Karen Braman