Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of diversified healthcare provider Sanofi (SNY), said Monday that it has began shipment of the first lots of Fluzone vaccine to U.S. healthcare providers following Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, licensure of the 2012-2013 formulation.
This initial shipment represents the first of more than 60 million doses of seasonal influenza vaccine the company plans to deliver to health care providers in the U.S. this influenza season.
Sanofi Pasteur also said that its syringe presentations of Fluzone and Fluzone High-Dose vaccines have a new syringe cap that does not contain latex.
All presentations of Fluzone vaccine have the designation "does not contain latex," which should mitigate concerns about use in patients with a latex allergy.
Due to extended shipping time and earlier incidence of disease, the first doses of Fluzone vaccine were shipped to Alaska and Hawaii and to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for use in the Vaccines for Children program.
Direct shipments to health care providers and distributors will be ongoing with health care providers who have placed reservations with Sanofi Pasteur receiving initial shipments by August and completed orders by the end of September.
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