A nasal spray flu vaccine known as FluMist has been highly recommended for kids.
But not anymore.
An advisory committee of the Centers for Disease Control said this year, FluMist offered virtually no protection against the virus. The committee is recommending against using the nasal spray for children under 17 for the upcoming flu season.
Dr. Mark Sawyer, a specialist in pediatric infectious diseases at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, said concerns about the nasal spray first emerged three years ago.
Sawyer said recent data showing the ineffectiveness of FluMist reinforced those concerns.
“I think companies in general are looking to develop vaccines that can be given by some mechanism other than a needle," he said. "And so we really need to understand why this one, which used to work, stopped working.”
There's no word on what pediatricians who've already ordered FluMist for the upcoming flu season should do with the drug.
Sawyer said the injectable form of the flu vaccine was highly effective this year against the most widely circulating form of the virus.
