Flu Vaccine Recommendations for the 2019-2020 Season

Although influenza seasons vary in severity, influenza can cause millions of illnesses, hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations, and tens of thousands of deaths worldwide each season. While not 100% effective, annual influenza vaccination offers important protection against influenza illness and its potential serious complications.

Hi. I'm Dr Lisa Grohskopf, a medical officer in the Influenza Division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). For the 2019-2020 influenza season, CDC and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) continue to recommend routine annual influenza vaccination for all persons 6 months of age and older who do not have contraindications to vaccination. The full recommendations are available on the CDC website. Here are some of the key changes for the 2019-2020 season.

Vaccine Composition

This season, all US-licensed influenza vaccines will have changes in the influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 and influenza A(H3N2) vaccine virus components as compared with the 2018-2019 season. US-licensed trivalent influenza vaccines will contain hemagglutinin derived from A/H1N1, A/H3N2, and B/Victoria viruses. Quadrivalent influenza vaccines will contain hemagglutinin derived from these three vaccine viruses and from a B/Yamagata virus.