New Flu Vaccine Approved Targeting Elderly Contains Squalene

The FDA has approved a new flu vaccine—Fluad. Should we say, “hooray,” or “oy veh”. I will let you decide. Fluad is the first seasonal influenza vaccine containing an adjuvant called squalene. Adjuvants in vaccines, such as aluminum, are used to cause a greater immune system response as compared to vaccines used without an adjuvant. This increased immune system response is hypothesized to result in an enhanced efficacy of the vaccine–in other words, it should make the vaccine more effective. Therefore, you would think that a flu vaccine with an adjuvant such as squalene would result in a more robust antibody response when it is compared to the regular flu vaccine that is adjuvant-free. Well, in the case of Fluad, you would think wrong.