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The children's nasal spray flu vaccine is safe and effective. It's offered every year to children to help protect them against flu.
This page is about flu vaccination for children. Find out about flu vaccination for adults.
Flu is caused by the influenza virus. It can be a very unpleasant illness for children. It can also lead to serious problems, such asbronchitisand pneumonia.
Children can catch and spread flu easily. Vaccinating them also protects others who are vulnerable to flu, such as babies and older people.
If you have any questions about vaccinations, you can:
The nasal spray flu vaccineis free on the NHSfor:
If your child is aged between 6 months and 2 years and has a long-term health condition that makes them at higher risk from flu, they'll be offered a flu vaccine injection instead of the nasal spray.
This is because the nasal spray is not licensed for children under 2 years old.
The nasal spray vaccine offers the best protection for children aged 2 to 17 years. They'll be offered a flu vaccine injection if the nasal spray vaccine is not suitable for them. Injected flu vaccines are also safe and effective.
Some children will be offered the injected flu vaccine if they have:
Children will also be offered the injected flu vaccine if they live with somebody with a severely weakened immune system who requires isolation (for example, someone who has had a bone marrow transplant).
If you're not sure, check with the school aged immunisation service team, the nurse or GP at your surgery, or the specialist if your child has hospital care.
The nasal spray vaccine contains small traces of pork gelatine. If you do not accept the use of pork gelatine in medical products, the injected vaccine is available as an alternative.
Injected flu vaccines are given into the muscle of the upper arm or the thigh for children under 1 year.
Children with long-term health conditions, such as diabetes or heart problems, are at higher risk from flu.
It's important they're vaccinated.
Long-term conditions that qualify for the NHS flu vaccine include:
If it's their first time being vaccinated against flu, children under 9 years old with long-term health conditions will usually be offered a 2nd dose of the flu vaccine from 4 weeks after the 1st dose. This helps them develop immunity against flu for that first season.
Home-schooled children and children not in mainstream education should be invited for vaccination by the school aged immunisation service. If you do not hear from them, ask your Local Authority Education Department about arrangements.
Vaccination will start in primary schools and then be rolled out later in the season to some secondary school aged children. This will depend on the availability of the vaccine.
If you have a child with a long-term health condition, you can ask the GP surgery to give them the vaccine instead of them having it at school if you prefer.
If your child is not in primary school, ask the GP surgery to give the vaccine.
You may be asked to wait until your child is better before having the nasal spray flu vaccine if they have:
Sometimes an injected vaccine may be offered instead.
The vaccine is given as a spray squirted up each nostril. It's quick and painless.
The vaccine will still work even if your child gets a runny nose, sneezes or blows their nose.
The nasal spray flu vaccine gives children the best protection against flu. The injected flu vaccine is a good alternative if the nasal spray vaccine cannot be used.
It may take around 2 weeks for the flu vaccine to work.
Any child who catches flu after vaccination is less likely to be seriously ill or be admitted to hospital.
Flu vaccines are very safe.
Side effects of the nasal spray flu vaccine are mild and do not last long. They include:
For the injected flu vaccine, most side effects are also mild and do not last long. They include:
These side effects usually last for 1 or 2 days.
It's rare for anyone to have a serious allergic reaction to the flu vaccine. If they do, it usually happens within minutes.
The person who vaccinates you or your child will be trained to deal with allergic reactions and treat them immediately.
Let your doctor or nurse know if your child has had severe allergic reactions to:
The nasal spray flu vaccine has a low egg content and is safe to give in school or in a clinic to children who do not have a serious egg allergy.
Children who have previously needed treatment in intensive care for an egg allergy may be offered the nasal spray vaccine in hospital.
If you're not sure, check with the school aged immunisation service, the nurse or GP at your surgery, or a hospital specialist.
For more advice on what to expect after vaccinations and how to treat common side effects, read vaccination tips for parents.
The nasal spray flu vaccine contains small amounts of weakened flu viruses. They do not cause flu in children.
As flu viruses change each year, a new nasal spray vaccine has to be given each year.
The brand of nasal spray flu vaccine available in the UK is called Fluenz Tetra.
The nasal spray vaccine contains small traces of pork gelatine. If this is not suitable, speak to your child's nurse or doctor, or the school aged immunisation service about your options.
Your child may be able to have an injected vaccine instead.
See the emc website for a full list of ingredients in the Fluenz Tetra nasal spray patient information leaflet
A flu shot is a vaccine for preventing influenza. Influenza, or the flu, is a seasonal virus that affects the respiratory system. Vaccination is important for people at risk of severe illness from the flu.
Flu shots can have some mild side effects, such as pain and bruising at the injection site. However, getting the flu vaccine every year is the best option to prevent flu from spreading and causing severe illness.
In this article, we discuss the benefits and risks of flu shots.
Flu shots are very safe.
Over the past 50 years, several hundred million people in the United States have safely received flu vaccines. Severe reactions to flu shots are extremely rare. For every million flu shots, severe reactions occur in about 0.2 cases.
Before approving a flu shot for public use, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) carefully evaluate its safety and effectiveness.
The FDA also ensure that all vaccines contain substances that comply with their strict Current Good Manufacturing Practice regulations.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the FDA continuously monitor the safety of flu shots. They use the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System platform to identify and examine any adverse reactions to flu shots.
The flu can cause serious illness, hospitalization, and death in high risk individuals. High risk groups include:
Flu vaccinations are vital for anyone at risk of severe complications. Other benefits of flu shots include:
The CDC estimate that flu vaccinations between 2017 and 2018 prevented:
Flu shots also allow the development of community immunity. If enough people get the vaccine, the flu is unable to spread rapidly through communities. As a result, people in high risk groups are less likely to get the flu.
Flu shots are, therefore, important for protecting others from severe illnesses.
Some possible downsides to flu shots include:
A common worry is that the flu shot can cause a person to get the flu. However, as the vaccine contains either the inactivated virus or only part of the virus, this is not possible.
Younger children are at a higher risk of severe illness from the flu. According to a study in Pediatrics, flu shots significantly reduce the risk of death from the flu in those between the ages of 5 and 12 years.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that all children over 6 months of age should receive a flu shot. Most flu-related deaths occur in children without vaccinations.
A downside is that the shot might cause discomfort in very young children. For example, there might be some pain and swelling at the injection site.
Less commonly, fever and aches might occur in children receiving their first flu vaccine.
To protect children, the people around them should also receive flu shots.
The CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommend that women get a flu shot during pregnancy.
Pregnant women are at a higher risk of severe illnesses from the flu. For pregnant women, a flu shot can:
The flu shot might still cause some minor side effects, such as nausea and swelling.
There are several strains of the flu, which change every season.
Doctors must try to predict the most common strains of flu each season. They then decide what type of vaccine to use in the flu shot.
All flu shots this year are quadrivalent. These vaccines protect against four strains of the virus.
Children receiving their first flu shot between the ages of 6 months and 8 years should receive a second flu shot 4 weeks afterward.
The table below lists the different types of flu vaccines that are currently available.
The flu is a widespread, seasonal virus. In some people, the flu can lead to severe illness and even death.
The flu shot is a safe way of preventing the flu. The risks of getting a flu shot are small, and any side effects are usually mild. Flu shots are important for protecting vulnerable groups, such as older adults and young children, from severe illnesses.
By: Kris Bryant, MD, FAAP
Many people don't realize how serious influenza (flu) illness can be, even for previously healthy kids and teens. (See "Why Flu Vaccination Is at the Top of My Family's Back-to-School List," below.) Children also play a role in spreading the flu in their homes and communities. As a parent, the best thing you can do to protect your children and others from the flu is to get them vaccinated.
Influenza viruses change yearly. All children age 6 months and older need a flu shot every year.
All children age 6 months and older should get their influenza vaccine when the shots become available, especially children who will need two shots this season. That way they will be protected before flu starts circulating in your community. It takes about two weeks after the shot to build immunity.
There are two types of influenza vaccines available. The first is what many people call the "flu shot." The second comes as a nasal spray.
All the vaccines available for children this year protect against four different influenza viruses (two A and two B viruses). During flu season, multiple different flu viruses may circulate. Sometimes the viruses change during the flu season.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) want as many children as possible to get a flu vaccine every year. Both types of flu vaccine (flu shot or nasal spray) can be given according to their indications for this flu season. Any licensed influenza vaccine available this year and appropriate for a child's age and health status should be given, with no preference.
Yes. Each year, it is possible that flu, COVID-19, and other common viruses will spread at the same time. Last influenza season was longer than most. Sometimes, the vaccine is not an exact match with the strains in the community. But the vaccine still can protect against serious illness. Talk with your pediatrician about your child getting the flu vaccine along with other recommended immunizations. This includes getting a COVID-19 vaccine or booster, if they are eligible.
Children with COVID-19 should get a flu vaccine after they have recovered from their COVID-19 illness. Keep in mind that symptoms such as a stuffy and runny nose can make it hard to give the nasal spray vaccine.
A child who had an allergic reaction after a flu vaccine in the past should be seen by an allergist. The allergist can help parents decide if their child should receive their annual flu vaccination. A child with a known history of egg allergy can receive the flu vaccine.
By Jennifer Pool Miller
Our daughter, Caroline, was very active, physically fit and healthy. She swam several times a week and participated in weekly gymnastics lessons.
She had been vaccinated against the flu every year, except one. When she was 5 years old, influenza nearly stole her life. That year, the vaccine wasn't readily available prior to the beginning of school. Once the busy school year began, a flu shot fell off our radar.
As winter break approached, Caroline came home from school with the sniffles and a mild cough. She has mild asthma and occasionally uses a nebulizer. But as the evening progressed, Caroline's breathing became more labored than usual. We called her pediatrician, who advised us to alternate doses of her asthma medications and to keep in touch. But by 1 a.m. her condition had worsened. The pediatrician urged us to take Caroline to the hospital, just to be safe.
Caroline was diagnosed with influenza A and double pneumonia. Doctors placed her on oxygen and monitored her breathing. She was transferred by ambulance to another hospital with a dedicated pediatric unit, but she slipped into life-threatening acute respiratory distress syndrome and needed to be transported by helicopter to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
She faced a long and frightening list of complications: flu, pneumonia, severe sepsis, septic shock, hypoxemia and was at risk of cardiorespiratory failure. For the next two weeks, Caroline remained in a medication-induced coma, intubated, and on an oscillating ventilator at the pediatric intensive care unit.
Finally, on Christmas Day, Caroline's condition started to take a turn for the better. The recovery process was agonizing, with two steps forward and one step back. And after a long three weeks, she was able to go home.
We are fortunate that our daughter was able to fight her way back. Her experience has changed our entire family's lives forever. I now encourage families to consider the flu shot a back-to-school essential.
Jennifer Pool Miller serves as treasurer for Families Fighting Flu, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and reducing hospitalizations by protecting children and their families against flu through education and advocacy. A strong advocate for annual flu vaccination, joined Families Fighting Flu in 2013 after her daughter Caroline's frightening battle with the flu. Her family established the Caroline Miller Endowed Fund for Nursing Education and "Katie and Caroline P.I.C. YOU!" Award at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to support continuing education for nurses, in honor of the integral role the CHOP nursing staff played in Caroline's care and recovery.
Many pediatricians offer flu shot clinics, including curbside and drive-through clinics. The pediatrician's office has your child's health information. That makes it easy to keep track of the flu shot in your child's health record.
If they get a flu shot somewhere else, remember to share this information with the pediatrician so the vaccination is included in your child's health record.
Most people who get the flu are sick for at least a week. But some people get much sicker. Getting vaccinated is the best way to prevent influenza and the serious complications that can result from itespecially for those with high-risk conditions like asthma. For example, flu can lead to pneumonia. Kids with flu also can develop brain inflammation as well as febrile and non-febrile seizures. The flu vaccine keeps people out of the hospitalit stops serious illness and deaths from influenza.
Influenza causes thousands of deaths in the United States every year. About 33 to 199 children and teens die each year of flu80% of those children were not fully vaccinated. Even children who are otherwise healthy and have no other medical conditions can be hospitalized with flu and develop life-threatening complications.
There's no need to wait, even if your child received the previous year's flu vaccine in March or April. Children 6 months to 8 years of age should receive two doses if this is the first time they are being vaccinated against influenza, or if they have only received one dose of flu vaccine ever before July 1. The doses are given four weeks apart.
We have a vaccine for flu, unlike many other respiratory viruses that make kids sick. Let's protect our children from flu when we can.
Kris Bryant, MD, FAAP, is the system medical director for pediatric epidemiology and infectious diseases at Norton Healthcare in Louisville, Ky., and a professor of pediatrics at the University of Louisville. She is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases.
The information contained on this Web site should not be used as a substitute for the medical care and advice of your pediatrician. There may be variations in treatment that your pediatrician may recommend based on individual facts and circumstances.
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The top priority of the Red Cross is the safety of our donors, volunteers, employees and blood recipients, and we are committed to transparency with the American public during this evolving public health emergency. There are no data or evidence that this coronavirus can be transmissible by blood transfusion, and there have been no reported cases worldwide of transmissions for any respiratory virus including this coronavirus.
The Red Cross only collects blood from individuals who are healthy and feeling well at the time of donation and who meet other eligibility requirements.
At each blood drive or donation center, Red Cross employees follow thorough safety protocols, including:
We have also increased our vigilance concerning some of these safety protocols including:
To ensure our staff are healthy each day, we have implemented standard staff health assessments prior to all blood drives.
Finally,onlyeligible and healthy peopleare allowed togive blood.
These mitigation measures will help ensure blood recipient safety, as well as staff and donor safety in reducing contact with those who may potentially have this respiratory infection.
Book yournext donation appointmentfor the days and weeks ahead to help ensure a sufficient blood supply for patients in need.
