Sorry kids, you will have to roll up those sleeves for flu protection this year.
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“They are now investigating why this quadrivalent mist was not effective the last three years and I think they will fix it”, said Dr. Williams.
The well known nasal spray is called FluMist.
The decision was taken with the help of a CDC committee of 15 immunization experts, who has analyzed data that compared the efficacy of FluMist with the standard flu shot. Flu season starts in September. When it first appeared in the early 2000s, it was considered to be more efficient against viruses than proper flu vaccines.
Some minor symptoms from the flu shot, according to a Rite Aid vaccine information sheet, are redness, soreness and swelling where the shot was given. By contrast, the flu shot is an inactivated influenza vaccine. About half of the patients at All Children’s receive the nasal spray, Dumois said.
And Dr. Tillman says the flu shots can not cause the flu, that is a myth!
Pediatricians are giving a big thumbs down to a new flu vaccine that promises to let children avoid the needle with a nasal spray, saying that FluMist is not recommended for kids this year, echoing comments from vaccine advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As a result of the recent findings, companies that distributed the nasal spray vaccine are not offering it to pharmacies and doctor’s offices aren’t ordering it. Flu vaccines are reformulated each year in anticipation of the strains that will be prevalent each year.
Influenza is a serious disease that causes millions of illnesses, hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations, and thousands or tens of thousands of deaths each year.
“The influenza vaccine is an essential, every-year vaccine for infants beginning at 6 months, children and teens”.
The agency briefly had a preferential recommendation for nasal spray vaccine for young children during 2014-2015.
Pediatricians still recommend vaccinating kids against the flu.
Getting your child vaccinated keeps your child healthy – and everyone around them as well. With symptoms like a fever, cough, and body aches you may think it’s a bug that will simply run its course, but Dr. Amy Garlove says it could be something much more risky.
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“Some have the theory that somehow as it’s been out the last several years that many people have developed a resistance to that avenue of protection, but we still are not sure”, Martindale said. The American Academy of Pediatrics has expressed no preference, so the choice of three strains or four can be made with your pediatrician.
