GC Biopharma said on the 26th that its influenza vaccine GCFLU won the bid for the largest volume of 2.63 million doses (dose·1 dose is one administration) in the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's 2025-2026 seasonal flu vaccine procurement purchase.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency adopted the trivalent influenza vaccine officially for the national immunization program (NIP) starting this season in accordance with World Health Organization recommendations. This change follows WHO's announcement in February that the influenza vaccine virus composition for the northern hemisphere would include two A strains (H1N1, H3N2) and one B strain (Victoria).
Since March 2020, there have been no naturally occurring detections of viruses from the B Yamagata lineage. WHO analyzed that the lineage has effectively disappeared, and global corporations have returned to selling trivalent rather than quadrivalent vaccines on the world market from the 2024-2025 season onward, as in the previous year. This is the first time the vaccine has reverted to offering less preventive coverage.
Experts, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), also assess that with the B Yamagata virus not circulating, there is no meaningful difference in preventive effectiveness between trivalent and quadrivalent vaccines.
GC Biopharma has contributed to improving public health by supplying flu vaccines reliably every year. In particular, during the COVID-19 pandemic, it continued to provide vaccines without disruption, helping stabilize public medical supply and demand.
A company official said the company will do its best to protect public health by reliably supplying vaccines domestically that align with WHO recommendations.