Using population-wide administrative and laboratory data to estimate type- and subtype-specific influenza vaccine effectiveness: a surveillance protocol.

Introduction: The appropriateness of using routinely collected laboratory data combined with administrative data for estimating influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) is still being explored. This paper outlines a protocol to estimate influenza VE using linked laboratory and administrative data which could act as a companion to estimates derived from other methods.

Methods And Analysis: We will use the test-negative design to estimate VE for each influenza type/subtype and season.