Flu can be a very serious illness. It  causes lots of death in the United States every year. As parents the best thing we can do for our children  to protect them from the flu is to get them vaccinated. Everyone around them should be vaccinated too.

What type of influenza vaccines are available   ?

There are 2  types of influenza vaccine for the 2018/2019  flu season. The first is the flu shot and the second is the nasal spray.

The American Academy of Pediatrics AAP recommends the flu shot as the best choice for children  for the 2018/2019 flu season.

What about ethics’s nasal spray flu vaccine ?

The nasal spray flu vaccine has not been available for the past couple of seasons. This vaccine also know as live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV or FluMist) is sprayed in the nose. When this type of vaccine came out over 10years ago, it worked very well  to protect people especially children from the flu, even better than the flu shot.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC keeps track on  how flu vaccines work each year since every year is different with different strains of the virus circulating each year. The nasal spray did not work at all in protecting people from getting the flu in three straight seasons (2013-14, 2014-15, and 2015-16).

As a result, AAP and CDC decided to recommend only the flu shot – and not the nasal spray – for the past two flu seasons (2016-2017 and the 2017-2018).

Should i get a nasal spray for my child this year ?

The AAP recommends that all eligible children 6 months and older should get the flu shot. There is not enough information to be confident that this season’s nasal spray flu vaccine will work as well as the flu shot to protect children.

However the CDC decided to go ahead and recommend the nasal  vaccine as an option for 2018 and 2019 flu season. The AAP still recommends that children should get the nasal spray this coming year  if you are healthy and at least 2 years old and wouldn’t get vaccinated otherwise. That is to say if your child is absolutely refusing the flu shot but will take the nasal spray or if the doctor’s office have run out of the flu shot but the nasal spray is available.

NOTE

Remember the best way to protect yourself  , your children and loved ones from the flu is getting vaccinated .