There are traces in some types of flu vaccines in the form of sulfonamides, such as neosporin, gentamicin, and polymixin. If you are allergic to these, you should not take the vaccines that contain these ingredients.
Two of the vaccines are available without these drugs: Fluzone and Flulaval. Ask your physician if these would be safe for you to use.
The ingredients of each type of flu vaccine currently available in the US for the 2012 - 2013 flu season are:
Flulaval:
Thimerosal, α-tocopheryl hydrogen succinate, polysorbate 80, formaldehyde, sodium deoxycholate, ovalbumin
Fluzone: Standard, High-Dose, & Intradermal:
Formaldehyde, octylphenol ethoxylate (Triton X-100), sodium phosphate, Gelatin (standard formulation only), thimerosal (multi-dose vial only) , egg protein
Afluria:
Beta-propiolactone, thimerosol (multi-dose vials only), monobasic sodium phosphate, dibasic sodium phosphate, monobasic potassium phosphate, potassium chloride, calcium chloride, sodium taurodeoxycholate, neomycin sulfate, polymyxin B, egg protein
Fluarix:
Sodium deoxycholate, formaldehyde, octoxynol-10 (Triton X-100), α-tocopheryl hydrogen succinate, polysorbate 80 (Tween 80), hydrocortisone, gentamicin sulfate, ovalbumin
Fluvirin:
Nonylphenol ethoxylate, thimerosal (multidose vial-trace only in prefilled syringe), polymyxin, neomycin, beta-propiolactone, egg protein
FluMist and FluMist Quadrivalent:
Ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA), monosodium glutamate, hydrolyzed porcine gelatin, arginine, sucrose, dibasic potassium phosphate, monobasic potassium phosphate, gentamicin sulfate, egg protein
For the 2013-2014 flu season:
In addition to the other ingredients, for the 2013-2014 flu season, the
antigens have been selected by CDC for the US trivalent vaccines for the 2013-2014 flu season, and the vaccine contains the following three viruses:
It has been recommended that the 2013-2014 quadrivalent vaccines (containing two Type A and two Type B influenza viruses) contain the above three viruses and a Type B/Brisbane/60/2008-like virus.
yes
interval- flu vaccine and the shingles vaccine
Yes, you can get flu vaccine and varicella vaccine at the same time.
Q-pan is the approved vaccine for Avian Flu or H5N1.
The flu vaccine is recommended for children and the elderly but nobody is forced to get it. Whether or not to get a flu vaccine is a personal choice.
how long is flu vaccine good for if left out of the refrigerator
no
You are not immune to Influenza. Even getting the yearly flu vaccine is no guarantee that a person won't get the flu. You can get the flu but it won't be as bad as it could be if you hadn't received the flu vaccine.
yes, if it is for the same vaccine, but not if it is for a new vaccine against a different flu
No. These viruses mutate rapidly and you can not get one vaccine for all of the subtypes.
Each flu vaccine is targeted to specific varieties of the flu virus. Unless another type of flu is very similar to the targeted virus, it will not be prevented with that vaccine. Having said that, since the 2010-2011 flu season through to the current 2011-2012 season, the "regular" seasonal flu vaccine, which always contains three types of flu vaccine (trivalent), has included the swine flu along with the other two varieties to which the vaccine was targeted. So in that sense, at least currently, the swine flu vaccination is effective against the regular flu since vaccines for each type are put together in one vaccination.
The flu. One of the side affects of flu can be death.
Originally in 2009 the vaccine for the pandemic swine flu was a monovalent vaccine, which means it was made to only prevent that one type of flu. Then for the 2010-2011 flu season, a trivalent vaccine was made for the regular flu just like every year. Trivalent means it is made to cover/prevent three different kinds of influenza virus infections. For the most recent flu season in the Northern Hemisphere, the "regular" flu shot contained the vaccine for swine flu and two others. So, the monovalent H1N1 vaccine covered only one type of flu: the pandemic swine flu. But the trivalent seasonal flu vaccines cover three types of flu (one of which, for the 2010 - 2011 flu season, is Swine flu H1N1/09).