FluMist
If you're not a big fan of needles, it might be better for you to go the FluMist route, especially if that's a major reason for you to skip your vaccine. If not, you can take your pick. The most important thing is that you get vaccinated - Amesh A. Adalja MD
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image by: Heejeon Choi
HWN Suggests
Is the nasal spray flu vaccine a good option this flu season?
The nasal spray flu vaccine was found to be an effective vaccination option before 2009, when the H1N1, or swine flu, outbreak occurred. After the outbreak, studies showed that the nasal spray vaccine was not as effective against H1N1.
The CDC stopped recommending it from 2016 to 2018. But it has since resumed recommending the nasal spray vaccine because of new ingredients used by the manufacturer. There have been no effectiveness studies on the nasal spray vaccine since then, but data from other countries indicates it's as effective as the shot, the CDC says.
Resources
FluMist is back: Vote reopens the way to wider use of popular vaccine
FluMist, the only non-injected flu vaccine licensed in the United States, has regained a place on the list of flu vaccines that the Centers for Disease Control recommends for use, ending what was effectively a two-year suspension of the popular vaccine.
The CDC Voted to Bring Back the Nasal Spray Flu Vaccine
Good news for people with a needle phobia.
Why Canada recommends nasal-mist flu vaccine for kids against U.S. advice
In the U.S., researchers found no protection with the nasal spray vaccine against the H1N1 component, whereas other countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom and Finland, showed the nasal spray was protective against H1N1, said Dr. Danuta Skowronski, a physician and epidemiology lead in the influenza program at the BC Centre for Disease Control in Vancouver.
The Nasal Flu Vaccine Is Set to Come Back Next Year. Here's What to Know About It
Unlike traditional flu shots, which do not contain live influenza virus, FluMist delivers a dose of influenza that helps the body mount an immune response, but is weakened to the point that it won’t cause infection, explains CDC Medical Officer Dr. Lisa Grohskopf.
A Flu Season Without FluMist? Making Shots Less Painful for Children
This flu season, many children who were expecting drops in their nostrils are going to get needles in their arms instead.
Fact check: Nasal flu vaccine does not push through the cribriform plate to the brain
The claim that the vaccine “has not been proven to be safe or effective” is not supported by health bodies like UK's National Health Service, which advises that: “The nasal spray flu vaccine for children is very safe” and that “the side effects linked with the nasal spray flu vaccine are almost always mild and short-lived”.
How FluMist Slipped From Preferred To Passe
What led to the abrupt fall of FluMist — the nasal spray version of influenza vaccine — which until recently was considered the first choice for younger children?
Kids, Get Your Flu Shot
The live attenuated vaccine, which is sprayed into the nose, has been ineffective in previous years, and the academy is recommending against its use except in cases in which the child refuses the shot. The live vaccine cannot be given to children under 2. Children 9 and older need only one dose. Those 6 months through 8 years may need two shots, at least four weeks apart.
Next Flu Season You’ll Be Able to Get Your Shot Without a Needle
The needle-free FluMist influenza vaccine is coming back to the U.S. after two years off the market, promising a less painful way for people to inoculate themselves against the infectious disease.
Pediatrics group encourages parents to steer clear of popular FluMist in favor of shots
That advice puts the AAP’s annual flu vaccine recommendations slightly at odds with those of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which state that any of the flu vaccines available for children could be used for the coming flu season.
Sorry, Kids: Flu Shots Work Better Than Nose Spray
“The live version is not working as well as it needs to,” Dr. Flannery said. “Why that is, we don’t know. We hope that the problem with the vaccine will be identified so that the manufacturer can come back with a fixed vaccine.”
Study Says FluMist Vaccine Does Indeed Work, Contradicting CDC
But things aren't so simple. In fact, the conflicting evidence about the live nasal flu vaccine offers an excellent case study on how complex the task of analyzing flu vaccine data and making recommendations really is.
What's Going On With The Nasal FluMist Vaccine?
Right now, no one knows specifically why it appears no longer effective, but there are some reasonable hypotheses. The leading one is that children getting the FluMist three years in a row could have a blunted response to the vaccine.
Is the nasal spray flu vaccine a good option this flu season?
"I wouldn't necessarily recommend it or over the shot, or the shot over it," said Dr. Joseph Chang, chief medical officer of Parkland Health and Hospital System. "Things that are cleared by the CDC have a very rigorous process they have to go through. If the CDC and FDA has cleared them, then I would say either are good to use."
FluMist
FluMist Quadrivalent is an option recommended by the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
CDC
All nasal spray influenza (flu) vaccines... are quadrivalent, meaning they are designed to protect against four flu viruses: an influenza A(H1N1) virus, an influenza A(H3N2) virus and two influenza B viruses.
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