For most kids – and their parents, who used to be able to happily confirm to their kids that no, no shot today – the FluMist vaccine was a welcome alternative to the traditional, injectable flu shot, but this flu season, the chances that you’ll be able to elect the FluMist option are slim.
In June, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended against using the nasal flu vaccine for the 2016-2017 flu season, citing lack of evidence that FluMist works as effectively as its injectable counterpart.
“It was nice to have the option of FluMist, but the CDC looked at the effectiveness of it over the past two flu seasons, and it wasn’t nearly as effective as the injectable forms,” said Dr. John LaCount, a pediatrician with St. Elizabeth Physicians’ Florence office.
Although LaCount said the problem could have to do with the administration of the nasal flu vaccine, its storage, or something else entirely, he said insurance companies likely are no longer going to cover FluMist due to the CDC’s recommendation, which means doctor’s offices, like his, aren’t going to be able to order it.
“Parents would have to pay for, out of pocket, something that their insurance company deems inappropriate, and I don’t think they’re going to want to do that,” he said.
Although a Canadian study that came out in August appears to contradict the findings that FluMist isn’t as effective as the injectable flu shot, LaCount said that the study likely wouldn’t gain any traction this year.
“FluMist is going to have to come back with some viable research to prove it’s effective or the company isn’t going to survive,” he said.
It’s also worth remembering that even the injectable flu shot is only around 60 percent effective, but it’s the herd immunity that provides the benefit, LaCount said.
“If you don’t have a high range of people immunizing, then anybody coming into the population is potentially going to transmit it,” he said. “That’s why herd immunity is so important. It may not provide a lot of benefit to you or your child, but it provides a benefit to everyone in the community because it stops the transmission because everyone’s immunized.”
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