WASHINGTON – FluMist, a nasal spray influenza vaccine, was recently approved for the 2018 and 2019 flu seasons after being off the market for two years due to its poor performance compared to the flu shot.
The company that makes FluMist, however, said Wednesday that it has reformulated the vaccine and has tested it in 200 kids. They said it works better now, and the advisory committee that decides which vaccines are available in the United States agreed.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) says 84 children have died since October, when the current flu season began. Three out of four children who died from the flu had not gotten a flu vaccine. The CDC recommends that everyone over the age of six months get a flu vaccine every year.