News » Clinical guidance news, Supply Shortages » Sanofi admits massive flu vaccine batch loss
August 12th 2026
The DDA has described the response of Sanofi to a batch loss said to affect two million flu vaccines as “simply not good enough”
In October 2025, Sanofi negotiated a bulk purchase deal for DDA members, offering a £3 discount on flu vaccination subject to a bulk order threshold being met.
However, yesterday, DDA members were contacted by Sanofi to say that manufacturing of seasonal influenza vaccines, particularly, the trivalent IIVr (recombinant) vaccine, had been affected by “a challenge”. In addition, there has been late identification of an unexpected B strain virus candidate.
This is thought to have resulted in a loss of two million Sanofi flu vaccines and some DDA members have been told that their entire order with Sanofi has been cancelled, affecting around 80 per cent of their expected delivery.
However, other members, particularly those ordering early, have told the DDA member-only Facebook group that their orders are unaffected by this outage. Sanofi has stressed that orders for the IIV-HD (high dose) vaccine remain unaffected, and will be delivered as scheduled. It is also understood that members are being advised that a llV-HD (high-dose) vaccine may be available in November, but this is not confirmed.
In a statement to the DDA, Sanofi said: "Sanofi regrets to inform that we are facing supply challenges with Supemtek TIVr influenza vaccines for the 2026/2027 flu season in England. We fully recognise the impact this will have on healthcare providers and the patients they serve, and we sincerely apologise for the disruption this supply challenge causes.
"This season has been particularly challenging for the influenza vaccine manufacturing industry. Two significant external factors have affected influenza vaccine manufacture: three strain changes compared with last year's vaccine composition, and the late identification of the B strain candidate, which delayed the shipment of the reference strain to manufacturers globally.
"In addition, Sanofi has experienced a separate manufacturing challenge with Supemtek TIVr influenza vaccines for the 2026/2027 season."
In updated flu vaccination programme guidance, DHSC has said that while all the vaccines recommended for use in 2026 to 2027 flu vaccination season in the UK will continue to be trivalent influenza vaccines, containing 2 influenza A strains and 1 influenza B strain, the recommended composition of virus strains have changed:
Previously, JCVI advised on first- and second-line influenza vaccines, implying a relatively strict hierarchy of preferred products. However, from the 2026 to 2027 influenza season, recommended vaccines are described as ‘preferred’ vaccines, which better reflects a group of recommended options rather than a single best choice.
The DHSC statement says: “This approach provides greater flexibility while continuing to prioritise the most effective vaccines available.” Currently, the start of the adult programme for 2026 to 2027 will be unchanged from 1 October 2026 with the majority of vaccinations to be completed by the end of November.
Sanofi customer services can be contacted on 0800 854 430 (option 1) or email: GBFluInbox@sanofi.com
In a statement, CSL Seqirus said that all its adjuvanted trivalent influenza vaccines (aTIV) will be delivered as scheduled. However, some cell-based trivalent influenza vaccine (TIVc) orders were being 'rephased', following a filling line problem resulting in a backlog. This is now being cleared.
To contact CSL Seqirus, phone: 0345 009 3804 (8:30 - 17:00 on business days), email: flu.salesuk@seqirus.com
