Annually repeated influenza vaccination improves humoral responses to several influenza virus strains in healthy elderly

The benefit of annually repeated influenza vaccination on antibody formation is still under debate. In this study the effect of annually repeated influenza vaccination on haemagglutination inhibiting (HI) antibody formation in the elderly is investigated. Between 1990 and 1993 healthy young and elde

Antibody response after influenza immunization with various vaccine doses

The dose effect (0, 10, 20 and 60 micrograms) of influenza subunit vaccine on the antibody response was investigated in nursing-home residents and young controls. The vaccine antigens were: A/Taiwan/1/86 (H1N1), A/Sichuan/2/87 (H3N2) and B/Beijing/1/87. For the influenza B antigen, the post-GMT and the 'percentage protective titre' increased significantly both in the young controls and nursing-home residents. No dose effect was observed for the A/Taiwan, and a minor dose effect for A/Sichuan. All vaccine doses were well tolerated by both groups. We conclude from our data that higher vaccine doses may result in a better antibody response against some antigens but not against others. Therefore, in general, increasing the vaccine dose is no adequate method to improve the antibody response