Influenza Vaccination

General Information

  1. Optimal time to receive vaccine is mid-October through mid-November; however, vaccine is administered in EHS from mid-September through December.
  2. The composition of the vaccine is changed yearly to make certain the annual vaccine represents the strains that are most likely to be encountered during the upcoming season. Immunization against influenza viruses focuses on types A and B because type A influenza is most commonly responsible for epidemics and type B influenza also causes significant illness.
  3. Immunity lasts for one influenza season only.
  4. Possible side effects are slight fever, fatigue, muscle ache, and tenderness and redness at the injection site. Current vaccines are more highly purified than older preparations and less likely to be associated with fevers and local reactions.
  5. This vaccine should not be administered to individuals with a history of hypersensitivity (allergy) to chicken egg, Guillain-Barre' syndrome, or acute febrile illnesses. The vaccine is derived from virus grown in embryonated hens eggs, and is contraindicated in individuals who are allergic to eggs.
  6. The virus in the vaccine has been killed by formalin and is not infectious. The influenza vaccine does not cause influenza or viremia.
  7. Women who will be in the second or third trimester of pregnancy during the influenza season should be vaccinated, preferably after the first trimester.
  8. This vaccine may be administered simultaneously with pneomococcal, MMR, and polio vaccines.
  9. For more information about influenza vaccine.

Procedure

  1. The EHS Administrative Assistant will email site liaisons at the beginning of each flu season with information and needed forms. Each site liaison will receive a flu consent form, a link for the CDC vaccine information statement for that year's flu vaccine, and a form to indicate department account information so as to receive reimbursement for vaccine administered to employees.
  2. Each site will order their own flu vaccine and administer it to their employees. Each employee must sign a consent form. (Consent forms are updated every year and will be sent to site liaisons.)
  3. Give each employee who receives the vaccine the Vaccine Information Statement (VIS). A VIS must be given out prior to administration of the vaccine, and it must be given out each time the vaccine is given. Lot number and injection site are documented on the consent form.
  4. Administer 0.5 ml of vaccine IM into upper outer arm with a 1 inch, 23 gauge needle.
  5. Instruct the employee to wait in a waiting area for 10 minutes after receiving the vaccine to monitor for possible reactions.
  6. Document shot given on consent form. Send all consent forms to EHS Administrative Assistant. Campus mail them to C380 Med Inn, Box 0838 or fax them to 763-7405. Be sure to include the vaccine reimbursement form so that your site will receive reimbursement for the flu shots given to staff members.