Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert

Reader Questions:

Feds Offer 2022-2023 Preferred Flu Vaccine Guidance

Published on Thu Oct 13, 2022

Question: Why did the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend specific flu vaccines this year?

Washington, D.C. Subscriber

Answer: In a June 30, 2022, release, the CDC said: [CDC] “Director Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH, adopted the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ (ACIP) recommendation to preferentially recommend the use of specific flu vaccines for adults 65 years and older, including higher dose and adjuvanted flu vaccines. The preference applies to Fluzone High-Dose Quadrivalent, Flublok Quadrivalent and Fluad Quadrivalent flu vaccines.”

The CDC decided to recommend a specific vaccine and formulation for people over 65 because of the increased risk of severe illness and death-, the agency says.

“Given their increased risk of flu-associated severe illness, hospitalization, and death, it’s important to use these potentially more effective vaccines in people 65 years and older,” said José R. Romero, MD, director of CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

He also mentioned the existence of racial and ethnic disparities in populations who receive a high-dose vaccine versus a standard-dose vaccine, saying, “This recommendation could help reduce health disparities by making these vaccines more available to racial and ethnic minority groups.”