To control the disease in the coming 2008-20009 flu seasons ,six new versions of the influenza vaccine have been approved by the U.S. health regulators.

In these new vaccines Novartis AG’s Fluvirin; GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s Fluarix and FluLaval; CSL Ltd’s Afluria and Sanofi Aventis SA’s Fluzone have been included.

AstraZeneca Plc unit MedImmune‘s developed FluMist nasal spray has also been approved by the FDA.
There are the same three strains of the influenza virus in each vaccine as health specialist choose every year after considering which one is likely to break out.

According to CDC, influenza outbreaks can start in October and can last till the end of May.
This year, the FDA chose three new strains to update the vaccine instead of choosing one or two.

The CDC reported that in the previous flu season (2007-08) the vaccines proved quite ineffective in many parts and circulation of other strains than the expected one was the basic reason behind it.
MedImmune as well as Sanofi Aventis have already started to ship their products.

Earlier this week, MedImmune told that it was planning to develop more than 12 million doses of its new vaccine known as nasal mist and has been approved for 2 to 49 years old.