Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and MedImmune announced a non-safety related voluntary recall of some of the nasal spray H1N1 influenza vaccine that was shipped earlier this fall. This does not effect all of the vaccine that was shipped. There are no purity or safety concerns regarding this vaccine.

Austin Regional Clinic has removed all affected vaccine from our stock. Flu clinics will continue as scheduled with various forms of H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccine.

The manufacturer believes that the potency level was at or above the recommended threshold at the time most doses of the vaccine were administered.  In other cases, the antigen content in the affected lots of vaccine is only slightly below the specification limit. The slightly reduced concentration of vaccine antigen is still expected to be effective in stimulating a protective response. There is no need to revaccinate if you have already received H1N1 FluMist vaccine. As is recommended for all 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccines, children under 10 years of age still should receive a second immunization approximately 1 month after the initial vaccine dose for optimal immune response.