FDA panel recommends trivalent flu vaccine for next fall

FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee recommended that regulators drop the quadrivalent influenza vaccines used for roughly the past decade or so in favor of a trivalent replacement.

The new formulation, which is expected to be introduced for the 2024–2025 influenza season, would eliminate protection against a family of viruses that no longer pose a threat. The B/Yamagata viruses have not been documented anywhere in the world since early 2020.

While panel members acknowledge the need for intentional messaging around the change, which a Sanofi representative worried could be interpreted unfavorably by a public that is gravitating away from immunizations, some suggested the formulation adjustment could pump up public confidence in both vaccines and the process.