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Interim vaccine effectiveness against influenza virus among outpatients, France, October 2025 to January 2026
- Allan De Clercq1,2 , François Blanquart3 , Vincent Vieillefond4 , Benoit Visseaux5 , Alexandra Jacques6 , Stéphanie Haim-Boukobza7 , Valentin Wehrle8 , Guillaume Deleglise9 , Thomas Duret9 , Sibylle Bernard-Stoecklin10 , Danielle Perez-Bercoff11 , Antoine Oblette1,12 , Bruno Lina1,12 , Marie Anne Rameix-Welti11,13 , Laurence Josset1,12 , Vincent Enouf11 , Antonin Bal1,12 , on behalf of the RELAB study group14
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View Affiliations Hide AffiliationsAffiliations: 1 Hospices Civils de Lyon (HCL), Centre National de Référence des virus des infections respiratoires, Institut des Agents Infectieux, Laboratoire de Virologie, Lyon, France 2 Université Lille, UFR3S - ILIS, Faculté d'Ingénierie et Management de la Santé, Lille, France 3 Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology (CIRB), Collège de France, CNRS, INSERM, PSL Research University, Paris, France 4 BIOGROUP Paris Ouest, Levallois Perret, France 5 Département d’infectiologie, Laboratoire Cerba, Cerba Healthcare, Frépillon, France 6 Biogroup Lorraine, Grand Est, Metz, France 7 Laboratoires Cerballiance, Cerba Healthcare, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France 8 BioLBS, Lillebonne, France 9 INOVIE GEN-BIO, Clermont-Ferrand, France 10 Santé Publique France – Direction des maladies infectieuses, Saint-Maurice, France 11 National Reference Center for Respiratory Viruses, Molecular Mechanisms of Multiplication of Pneumovirus, Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France 12 Centre International de Recherche en Infectiologie (CIRI), Laboratoire VirPath, Inserm U1111, de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Lyon, France 13 Molecular Mechanisms of Multiplication of Pneumovirus, Université Versailles St-Quentin en Yvelines, Paris-Saclay INSERM UMR 1173 (2I), Assistance Publique des Hôpitaux de Paris, Paris, France 14 The members of the RELAB study group are listed under AcknowledgementsCorrespondence:Antonin Balantonin.bal chu-lyon.fr
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Citation style for this article: De Clercq Allan, Blanquart François, Vieillefond Vincent, Visseaux Benoit, Jacques Alexandra, Haim-Boukobza Stéphanie, Wehrle Valentin, Deleglise Guillaume, Duret Thomas, Bernard-Stoecklin Sibylle, Perez-Bercoff Danielle, Oblette Antoine, Lina Bruno, Rameix-Welti Marie Anne, Josset Laurence, Enouf Vincent, Bal Antonin, on behalf of the RELAB study group. Interim vaccine effectiveness against influenza virus among outpatients, France, October 2025 to January 2026. Euro Surveill. 2026;31(2):pii=2500992. https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2026.31.2.2500992 Received: 26 Dec 2025; Accepted: 15 Jan 2026
Abstract
In Europe, the 2025/26 seasonal influenza epidemic started in October 2025. Co-circulation of A(H3N2) and A(H1N1)pdm09 was observed in several countries including France. We estimated early vaccine effectiveness (VE) against influenza virus in French outpatients (5,451 positives/18,816 negatives). A significant VE across all age groups was measured: 28% (95% CI: 17–37) for those aged ≥ 65 years, 45% (95% CI: 36–53) for 18–64-year-olds and 57% (95% CIs: 29–74) for 0–17-year-olds. Reinforcing vaccination uptake is warranted.

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