World Health Organization - The composition of the vaccine for the November 2000-April 2001 influenza season in the Northern hemisphere has been determined and communicated to vaccine manufacturers.

• an A/Moscow/10/99(H3N2)-like virus
• an A/New Caledonia/20/99(H1N1)-like virus
• a B/Beijing/184/93-like virus+

WHO strongly recommends the use of vaccine as an effective preventive measure against this potentially fatal disease. Even in those cases when the vaccine does not fully protect against the disease, severity of illness and frequency of serious complications are reduced.

Specific vaccine viruses used in each country should be approved by the national control authorities. National public health authorities are responsible for recommendations regarding use of vaccines. All WHO recommendations are published and communicated to public health authorities, national control authorities and influenza vaccine manufacturers. Updated epidemiological information is available on http://www.who.ch/emc/flu/index.htm and the geographical information system, Flunet, at http://oms.b3e.juu.fr/flunet.

Reference: Recommended composition of influenza virus vaccines for use in the 2000-2001 season. Weekly Epidemiological Record, 75: 61-65 (2000).