Super-Flu Shots for Seniors

Two autumns ago Americans were anxiously awaiting the arrival of what had first been called “swine flu” and then officially became known as novel H1N1 influenza. In June 2009 the World Health Organization had issued its warning about an official “world pandemic.” By the end of the 2009-2010 winter flu season, millions of Americans had come down with the flu and between 10,000 and 20,000 had died from flu-related illnesses. A surprisingly large percentage of those who died were teenagers and young adults who had previously been in the prime of health.

Last winter’s flu season was comparatively mild. The peak of the flu season didn’t arrive until February, and numbers of flu cases were down in all regions of the country.

What can we expect this fall and winter? It’s reasonable to assume that our flu season won’t be as mild as last year’s was, as viruses have a way of mutating over time and becoming more infectious. On the other hand, it’s also not likely that we’ll see a flu season as bad as we had two years ago, since no dramatically new flu strains have appeared thus far in the Southern Hemisphere where it’s been winter south of the equator.

Flu vaccination will continue to be recommended for just about everyone 6 months of age and older. Those for whom flu vaccination is especially important are seniors, infants and young children, pregnant women, and health care workers. And for anyone else not wishing to miss a week or more of work or school.

This year there is now available a “senior strength” flu virus vaccine with the brand name “Fluzone High-Dose.” It was actually licensed by the Food and Drug Administration a year ago, and it will be more widely marketed by its producer Sanofi Pasteur this year. It has been known for many years that those 65 and older don’t produce as high an antibody response to the flu vaccine components (known as antigens) as do younger adults. The new higher-dose vaccine has 4 times the amount of antigen in it and produces approximately 40% higher antibody levels than does the standard flu vaccine. The new vaccine has been shown to be safe in clinical trials, but it has not yet been proven that higher antibody levels will necessarily result in less flu.

The cost of Fluzone High-Dose is covered for those with Medicare Part B. It will be interesting to learn over the coming one to two flu seasons whether this senior-strength vaccine is as great a value as is the usual flu vaccine.

Brad Gascoigne, M.D.