Clinical trials of bivalent A/New Jersey/76-A/Victoria/75 influenza vaccines in high-risk children.

Various doses of two whole-virus and one split-product bivalent influenza A/New Jersey/76-A/Victoria/75 vaccines were administered to 253 children aged six to 18 years. There were no statistically significant differences in either reactivity or humoral antibody response among the 167 children in seven chronic disease categories and 86 healthy children. The whole-virus vaccines were associated with unacceptably high rates of reaction when given in sufficiently antigenic initial doses but were relatively nonreactive when used for booster immunization. Split-product vaccines were no more reactive than placebo. All vaccine preparations induced adequate seroconversion rates and protective titers of antibody to A/Victoria virus after one dose and to A/New Jersey virus after two doses.