Many people are confused about the flu vaccine and how it works. The information below should make this clearer:
Every year the flu virus changes in order to survive. So every year we have to make a new vaccine that will combat the virus. This means you will need a new flu jab every 12 months.
Around 14 million vaccines are made for the UK alone every year.
It takes around six months to make the vaccines.
The science bit:
Manufactures use hen’s eggs to grow the new flu virus. Hen’s eggs are used to ensure we can grow enough of the flu virus to make the thousands of vaccines that are needed.
Before being made into the actual vaccine the virus is killed and purified. This means there is no live virus in the vaccine and you cannot catch the virus from the vaccine.
