Influenza burden averted with a cell-based quadrivalent seasonal influenza vaccine compared with egg-based quadrivalent seasonal influenza vaccine

ABSTRACT

Background

Cell-based quadrivalent inactivated influenza vaccines (IIV4c) avoid egg-adaptive mutations found in egg-based production, improving vaccine effectiveness (VE). Studies demonstrate improved VE for IIV4c relative to egg-based quadrivalent inactivated influenza vaccines (IIV4).

Research Design and Methods

We built on a static compartmental model developed by the CDC to estimate the influenza burden in persons 0–64 years that would be additionally averted by vaccination with IIV4c vs. IIV4. Model inputs were based on published data from 2017–2018, 2018–2019, and 2019–2020 Northern Hemisphere influenza seasons for the US.

Results

Over 3 influenza seasons, relative to IIV4, IIV4c would avert 31–39% more symptomatic cases, 29–40% more outpatient visits, 29–38% more hospitalizations and ICU admissions, and 34–49% more deaths vs. IIV4. In a deterministic sensitivity analysis, the main drivers were the relative VE of IIV4c vs. IIV4 in the 2017–2018 season and influenza burden estimates for the 2018–2019 and 2019–2020 seasons. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis showed that the interquartile range of symptomatic cases was ± 13% of baseline in 2017–2018, ±8% in 2018–2019, and ± 7% in 2019–2020.

Conclusions

IIV4c prevented significantly more symptomatic cases, outpatient visits, hospitalizations, and deaths than IIV4 in persons aged 0–64 years over 3 influenza seasons.

KEYWORDS:

• Influenza burden
• cell-based influenza vaccine
• influenza hospitalizations
• static compartmental model
• seasonal influenza
• influenza prevention

Declaration of interest

A Taylor, A Sardesai and H Toro-Diaz are employees of Evidera, which received funding for this study from Seqirus. I McGovern and M Haag are employees of CSL Seqirus Inc. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or material discussed in the manuscript.

Reviewer disclosures

A reviewer on this manuscript has disclosed that they own shares in Vicebio ltd, which is developing vaccines against pathogens other than influenza. Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no other relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Author contributions

Conception and design: IM; Analysis and interpretation of the data: IM, AT, AS, HT, MH; Drafting of the paper/revising it critically for intellectual content: IM, AT, AS, HT, MH; Final approval of published version: IM, AT, AS, HT, MH.

Geolocation information

United States of America

Data availability statement

Data was obtained from publicly available sources and is referenced in the manuscript.

Ethics approval

Ethical review and approval were not required for the retrospective analysis of the deidentified secondary data modeled in this study. Informed consent was not required for this type of study.

Acknowledgments

Financial support for this work was provided by CSL Seqirus. AT, AS, and HT received investigator fees for their time and efforts supporting this work and were funded by CSL Seqirus. IM and MH are employees of CSL Seqirus, the manufacturer of IIV4c. Medical consultant C. Gordon Beck and Amanda M. Justice provided editorial and medical writing support that was funded by CSL Seqirus.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/14760584.2024.2330643

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by CSL Seqirus Inc.