Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals
The Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals department is responsible for targeting vaccine-preventable diseases, guiding immunization research and establishing immunization policy.
Influenza
For WHO, the development of vaccines against influenza viruses with pandemic potential, as well as seasonal influenza vaccines that induce broadly protective and long-lasting immune responses are high priorities.
WHO has identified several conditions which are associated with elevated risk of complications from seasonal influenza virus infection. These groups include pregnant women, children aged 6–59 months, the elderly, individuals with specific chronic medical conditions, and health-care workers. Against seasonal influenza there are numerous licensed vaccines available.
Several of the influenza vaccines available have been prequalified by the WHO for purchase by UN agencies (https://extranet.who.int/pqweb/vaccines/prequalified-vaccines). This process of vaccine prequalification provides independent opinion and advice on the quality, safety, and efficacy of vaccines. There are also several vaccine candidates under development against animal influenza viruses.
WHO position paper
WHO Position paper on influenza vaccines - English and French (Updated November 2012)Including
all accompanying materials
Publications
This position paper is concerned with vaccines and vaccination against seasonal (epidemic) influenza. In recent years, there have been important developments...
Vaccination programmes against COVID-19 and seasonal influenza are currently being implemented in parallel in many countries. Administration of both vaccines...
15 June 2020
Flutool Plus
The WHO Flutool plus - Seasonal Influenza Immunization Costing Tool (SIICT) is an update of the previous Flutool and helps to project total costs of influenza...
1 July 2019
How to implement seasonal influenza vaccination of health workers: an introduction manual for national...
WHO has developed an introduction manual for national immunization programme managers and policy-makers to support the introduction of health worker influenza...
The influenza vaccine document comprises one module of the WHO Immunological Basis for Immunization series. We invite the immunization community to use...
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that countries immunize persons at high risk for severe influenza illness annually with influenza vaccines....
1 March 2017
Evaluation of influenza vaccine effectiveness - A guide to the design and interpretation of observational...
The guide is organized in the following sections: Section 2 describes the role of influenza VE studies in implementing and evaluating influenza vaccination...
12 September 2016
Guidance on the economic evaluation of influenza vaccination
The purpose of this document is to outline the key theoretical concepts, best practice in methodologies, and to provide guidance on the economic evaluation...
1 September 2016
WHO Manual for Estimating the Economic Burden of Seasonal Influenza
This manual outlines key conceptual frameworks and best practice approaches to estimate the economic burden of seasonal influenza disease. It also provides...
1 January 2016
How to implement influenza vaccination of pregnant women
WHO’s influenza recommendations aim to protect vulnerable high-risk groups from severe disease. In 2012, WHO published a position paper on influenza...
The FLUtool allows the user to estimate the costs of activities that take place during the introduction of maternal influenza vaccination into a national...
10 June 2010
New Vaccine Post-Introduction Evaluation Tool
This post-introduction evaluation (PIE) tool provides a systematic method for evaluating the impact of the introduction of a vaccine on the existing immunization system...
News
Feature stories on influenza
Further information
Health topic