Identification and quantitation of the components of polyvalent inactivated influenza virus vaccines by immunodiffusion.

One of the basic problems in the standardization of inactivated polyvalent influenza virus vaccines has been the determination of the relative potency of the individual strain components. The chicken cell agglutination test measures reliably the total hemagglutinin content of these vaccines. With immunodiffusion techniques, it is now possible to quantitate each strain component of polyvalent vaccines. Routine application of these techniques would serve as an interim procedure to assess antigenic potency of individual strain components of commercial vaccines until improved tests are developed.