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Afluria Quadrivalent

This is a quadrivalent flu vaccine

 

For a more detailed explanation of some of the ingredients, see this article: https://www.wired.com/2014/11/whats-inside-flu-shot/

Ingredients:

Active ingredients:

Inactivated influenza (flu) virus from 4 serotypes:

  • H1N1

  • H3N2

  • Victoria lineage

  • Yamagata lineage

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Afluria is approved to be given as both a normal shot (6 months+) and through a needle-free jet injector (ages 18-65).

Inactive ingredients:
Amounts are based on a 0.5 mL dose

Salts: help maintain the stability and pH of the vaccine

Preservatives: prevent bacterial growth and contamination

*Thimerosal is only in multi-dose vials of flu vaccines, which means that one vial of vaccine contains multiple doses. As a result, the container would be reused, so it needs a preservative to prevent contamination between the different uses from the same vial.

Antibiotics: used to prevent contamination during manufacturing

Carbohydrates: normally used as stabilizers in vaccines

Other:

Relevant Terms

  • Antibiotics: substances that kill bacteria or prevent them from dividing. Antibiotics are used in some vaccines to prevent contamination during the manufacturing process

  • Carbohydrates: another word for sugar

  • pH: a measure of how acidic or basic a solution is. The scale ranges from 0 (very acidic) to 14 (very basic). A pH of 7 is neutral.

  • Quadrivalent: Protects against four different versions of the pathogen (in this case, influenza virus)

  • Serotype: a group of strains within a species that share a particular type of surface structure.

Relevant terms

Sources

Last updated: Feb. 20, 2023

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