WASHINGTON — Local school districts are starting to postpone or cancel their flu vaccine clinics because of manufacturing delays.
It seems the company that makes the FluMist nasal spray tweaked the vaccine to make it more effective, and ended up with a new formula that took longer to produce.
Howard and Anne Arundel counties’ schools are the latest to change their clinic plans because their FluMist supplies have not arrived. A Howard County Public Schools spokesman says other districts will follow suit.
Howard is delaying its clinics, while Anne Arundel is urging parents to get the flu vaccine elsewhere. But anyone looking for FluMist needs to have a plan B.
“We have intermittent supply of the nasal mist, but we do have adequate supplies of the injection,” says Dr. Linda Fu, a pediatrician with the Children’s National Health System.
She notes that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which once seemed to favor nasal spray flu vaccine for kids, now says the mist and the shot are equally effective and interchangeable.
“I would advise parents to get the injectable shot early in the season as opposed to waiting for the mist, because we don’t know for sure when the mist will become available,” Fu says.
She is one doctor who walks the walk. When she had a tough time finding FluMist for her 5- and 8-year-old children, she took the whole family for flu shots and made sure to do it as soon as the vaccine became available.
“It generally lasts throughout the season, and you don’t know when the flu seasons will hit, so if you get it early, you are protected for the season,” Fu says.
Getting children vaccinated is crucial as they are one of the groups most at risk for complications from the flu. Others include the elderly, pregnant women and people with compromised immune systems.
