Is the flu shot made from eggs?

Answer 1

I am a nurse in Family Practice and we have to screen people for egg allergies/sensitivities prior to administering the flu vaccine. The serum that is injected is prepared in a solution consisting of egg whites. So, is it made FROM eggs, no, but it is prepared in them.

Answer 2

My source cited below states:

"Each February, World Health Organization doctors meet with an international team of virologists to identify the flu strains they think will hit the following winter. They then brew these flu strains in chicken eggs to create a safe "seed vaccine." It can take weeks or months for the eggs to yield the seed vaccine, and until the vaccine makers receive the seed and related biological material from the World Health Organization, they can't begin the manufacturing
process in earnest."

Therefore, it's definitely made from chicken eggs. People who are allergic to eggs are advise not to take flu shots. However, always consult your doctor.

Answer 3

I had a flu shot recently, and was asked if I was allergic to eggs,
I think eggs are used to grow the culture for the shot.

Answer 4

Hi I am diabetic and had my flu shot about a month ago. yes it is made from egss. Flu vaccines are prepared in hens’ eggs so
they should not be given to anyone with a
known anaphylactic hypersensitivity (a severe
allergic reaction that requires urgent medical
attention) to egg products. hope this helps.

Answer 5

I'm not sure of the exact process but eggs are involved. I'm a nurse and I have to screen for egg allergies prior to giving the shot.

Answer 6

Yes...

In 1931, viral growth in embryonated hens' eggs was discovered, and in the 1940s, the U.S. military developed the first approved inactivated vaccines for influenza, which were used in the Second World War.

The current egg-based technology for producing influenza vaccine was created in the 1950s.

Answer 7

Flu vaccine is usually grown in fertilized chicken eggs
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What are the ingredients?
“Mercury-free” Fluarix® contains fragments from three different influenza viruses. Other added ingredients are thimerosal 1.2 mcg. (49.6% ethyl mercury), octoxynol-10 (spermicide), Tween 80 (.41 mg.) and a-tocopheryl hydrogen succinate (100 mcg.) Residual ingredients from the manufacturing process include ovalbumin, formaldehyde, gentamicin sulfate (antibiotic), sodium deoxycholate and hydrocortisone.
http://www.vaclib.org/docs/Flu2005half.htm

YIKES.. I think I would rather have the flu....
http://www.rense.com/general59/vvac.htm

Answer 8

Egg products, not eggs per se
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Ingredients: (sources are manufacturers statements.)
FluMist®: (MedImmune) Live attenuated cold adapted virus*, allantoic fluid (egg white), sucrose, potassium phosphate, and monosodium glutamate. Source http://www.drugs.com/PDR/Flumist_Vaccine.html.

FLUARIXTM: (GlaxoSmithKline) Chicken embryos, virus*, sucrose, sodium deoxycholate, formaldehyde, sodium phosphate, sodium chloride, octoxynol-10, Alpha-tocopheryl hydrogen succinate, and polysorbate 80, trace thimerosal (<1.25 mcg mercury per dose). Each dose may contain residual amounts of hydrocortisone, gentamicin sulfate, ovalbumin, formaldehyde and sodium deoxycholate.

Fluzone®: (Aventis-Pasteur) Chicken embryos, virus*, formaldehyde, sucrose, octoxinol-9, sodium phosphate, sodium chloride, Gelatin, thimerosal in the 5mL vials (25 ug mercury/dose), no thimerosal in prefilled syringes.

Answer 9

It is a flu immunisation; a form of inocculation.

An inocculation works by using dead infection microbes (usually virus's) of one kind of infection type eg. measles; so that when they get put into your blood stream, you body will recognise them.

Therefore, the next time you get infected, your body will know what to fight.

CREED

Answer 10

the virus is incubated in eggs to produce the shots