Administration time between seasonal live-attenuated influenza vaccine and trivalent influenza vaccine during the "Stop Flu at School" Campaign--Hawaii, 2009.

OBJECTIVES

We determined whether the administration time differed between seasonal intranasal live-attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) and seasonal injectable trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (TIV) during Hawaii's 2009 school-located influenza vaccination clinics. This information is useful for public health response and allows further investigation into possible differences between the two vaccines.

METHODS

We conducted a prospective cohort study in 15 public schools to determine mean times to administer LAIV and TIV to students. We performed group analyses to control for various clinic characteristics and conducted a stratified, weighted analysis.

RESULTS

A total of 4,701 students were enrolled in the study, and administration time was obtained for 3,869 (82%) students (1,492 [39%] LAIV and 2,377 [61%] TIV). The mean administration time for LAIV was 62 seconds and for TIV was 90 seconds, a difference of 28 seconds (p<0.01). This finding remained significant in the stratified analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

Although results indicated that both LAIV and TIV can be administered rapidly among school-aged populations, LAIV was faster to administer. This finding, in addition to the greater immunogenicity of LAIV compared with TIV among children, may be an important consideration for public health administrators in planning school-located mass vaccination clinics and encouraging patient acceptance of this vaccine.