High-Dose Influenza Vaccine More Effective for Older Adults

High-dose influenza vaccines are more effective than standard-dose influenza vaccines for older adults, according to a new study. Clinical Advisor reports that investigators conducted a retrospective cohort study to measure vaccine effectiveness in older men and women across six influenza seasons. Researchers had a pool of 13,770,207 high-dose and 6,151,913 standard-dose vaccinated Medicare beneficiaries aged at least 65 to analyze, and they sought outcomes that hospital encounters ranging from inpatient stays to emergency room visits. They found a slight increase of relative vaccine effectiveness for seniors across all seasons. High-dose vaccines prevented hospital visits more than standard-dose vaccines in four of the six flu seasons and were as effective as standard-dose vaccines in the other two. Researchers also found that high-dose vaccines were consistently more effective than standard-dose vaccines for adults aged at least 85 across all six flu seasons.