The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has recommended that children aged 2-8 should get a nasal spray flu vaccine if available instead of an injection. The CDC director must approve the recommendation before it becomes an official CDC policy.
The FDA approved MedImmune’s FluMist Quadrivalent four-strain vaccine in February 2012. The four-strain vaccine is marketed in Europe as Fluenz Tetra. Trivalent FluMist is no longer available in the US.
According to the CDC, “This new ACIP recommendation is based on a review of available studies that suggests the nasal spray flu vaccine can provide better protection than the flu shot in this age group against laboratory-confirmed, medically attended flu illness. The recommendation also says that if the nasal spray flu vaccine is not immediately available, the flu shot should be given so that opportunities to vaccinate children are not missed or delayed.”
Read the CDC press release.
