The @AmerAcadPeds isn't recommending the nasal flu vaccine for kids this year. https://t.co/t6cU1TQqcB Subscribe: https://t.co/qd2x1Xgt5l
— STAT (@statnews) September 6, 2016
The flu spray was barely more effective than a placebo in preventing flu infections in the past couple of years. Flu shots are the way to go. This will have a few policy implications. First, it will lead to lower cost per vaccinated individual as the shots are cheaper than the spray. Secondly, it will lead to increased ice cream consumption as my kids get an ice cream after a shot. Do yours?
Open Thread
RSR
My boys (14 & 12) are fine to receive injections. IIRC, that’s what they got last year, as the peds practice didn’t have much inventory of the nasal spray. Looks like that might have been good in the long run.
I wonder what the issue with the spray? The delivery effectiveness always seemed a bit…uncertain. A few years ago, one of the boys sneezed about 5 seconds after his nasal spray dose.
Keith P.
I used to never get flu shots, and AFAIK, I never got the flu (I’m not really sure of the difference getting them between cold and flu, but I’m pretty sure I’ve had just colds and sinus infections). But once I went on dialysis, I had to start getting them. Just had mine today. And then at some random point when I’m not expecting it, they’re going to hit me up with a hepatitis vaccine. Shot in each arm. And then at some point, there’s the random TB test, which is another stick. I think that’s it.
MattF
@Keith P.: Probably also a pneumonia vaccine to come, and if you’ve had chicken pox, shingles vaccine.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Keith P.: Flu symptoms (CDC). One usually doesn’t have a fever with a cold or sinus infection, but does with the flu.
Cheers,
Scott.
Cermet
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Thanks, didn’t stop to think about that.
@Keith P.: Read up on the use of ‘activated charcoal’ to help/reduce dialysis. Combined with a smart diet research papers have indicated that many subjects achieved better results – that is, less need for dialysis.
Iowa Old Lady
I was always up for a little bribery with my kid. He could be bought.
We always get flu shots. Mr IOL gets his at work.
aimai
I have a kid (now 17) who had a massive phobia for shots–massive! Like screaming, crying, begging, hysterics. The nasal spray, which she was only offered a couple of times, was a godsend. She also had asthma and was on the priority list for the flu shots to prevent a kick over to pneumonia, which she was susceptible to. I will mourn the flu spray but I suppose if it was ineffective then it was no blessing.
Betty Cracker
I’ve never had a flu shot in my life, nor has my kid. But she did receive bribe items — ice cream, Skittles, etc. — for other vaccinations. And I would treat myself to a top-shelf whisky.
Shantanu Saha
Ice cream after a shot? Darn, if my five-year-old finds out, he won’t be satisfied with kisses and Batman band-aids anymore.
Snarki, child of Loki
Ice cream is the go-to treatment for “tummy bugs”.
Sometimes it calms the stomach, other times you get to taste the ice-cream going down, then coming back up.
a non mouse
My kids have always preferred the shot over something squirted up their nose – even in elementary school.
Donuts, however, are the preferred bribe for us. ;)
Starfish
Oh, this means that the people who do not vaccinate due to philosophical beliefs may be even less vaccinated than usual. I hope it is not a bad season because I am surrounded by these people.
chopper
goddammit. my oldest loses her shit over shots and the nasal flu vaccine has made it way easier. great.
Bobby Thomson
I never trusted the spray but the nurses always insisted it was more effective.
greennotGreen
For those who don’t normally get flu shots, remember the concept of “herd immunity.” While it’s true that the experts don’t always correctly predict which flu strain will head our way, when they do, a flu shot protects you and yours. If you don’t get a shot, you may get a mild case, but Grandma Jones, who gives you a hug in the grocery store before you really feel sick, may die.
HelloRochester
Major drag in our house: older son is a cardiac kid AND his entire upper arm gets hot, red, and swollen when he gets the flu shot (but he is, strangely, negative for egg allergy which would be the logical culprit). The last two years of Flumist have made our lives much easier and less distressing.
Ken Pidcock
Rather disappointing. For vaccines, attenuated viruses are the gold standard. That this one apparently doesn’t work sucks.
Belafon
Not for shots. We do let them choose where to go for dinner if they do things like perform in a music competition, participate in robotics, or a lot of the other school extracurricular activities.
My kids were pretty scared of shots when they first started knowing what was going on. We would tell the kids it was going to hurt (telling them it doesn’t actually makes it feel like it hurts worse), but would tell them how they would feel if they got the flu/whatever instead. And we’d let them know they were going to get it whether they wanted it or not. And we don’t make a big deal about getting it. After about three years, so around age five, they would get their shots with no more than “Will it hurt?” “Yes, we’ve told you before, but not too much and not for very long.”
Gelfling 545
I started getting flu shots when I was about 50. I was teaching, so constantly exposed to whatever and pretty much always ended up with a secondary infection of some type. After the 3rd bout of pneumonia the doctor wondered aloud why I’d want to keep doing that. Most years since I haven’t caught the flu. When I did, it was a much milder case. Of course, I got my pneumonia vaccine now but still, being elderly, I’d rather not waste any of the time I may have being sick.
Feathers
Decades later, I still remember the day when my younger brother freaked out about getting a shot, so the nurse gave me one I didn’t need to show him it wasn’t so bad. The Seventies, man, the Seventies.
Kristine
Bah–got my shot a couple of days ago. This one made the shoulder muscle ache more than this in past years.
Should’ve had ice cream. Made lemon bars instead.
Started getting flu shots consistently after the last infection led to two secondary rounds of conjunctivitis.
Aardvark Cheeselog
About 6-8 years ago I had a big gathering at my house at Christmas time, with siblings and nieces and nephews from all over. My brother’s birthday is Dec. 24, and I was going to cook him a special dinner of filet mignon and lobster tail, with grilled asparagus and baked potato and hand-tooled Caesar salad. I woke up in the morning feeling kinda sick but there was a lot to do and I kept flogging away at it. Until in the evening, I was cracking lobster tails open for the grill, and felt kind of lightheaded. Fortunately I had people around me when I went face-first into the sink, and they kept me from cracking my head on the floor. I came to with a ring of concerned faces looking down at me, and struggled to my feet insisting that I was fine. A few minutes later it happened again, and this time they called 911.
At the hospital they diagnosed flu, and put me on IV fluids for about a day. I spent my Christmas under observation that year. Since then I make a point of getting my flu shot.
Allen Snyder
Hell, *I* get an ice cream after a shot, especially if I go into a vasovagal response, which is not even remotely unlikely.
Seanly
My wife’s transplant oncologist told us that neither of us should do the nasal vaccine. That uses a live version of the flu which is a danger to my wife since her immune system is still compromised. On the good news though, she is off the Tacrolimus (sp?) which also means a couple of the antiviral, antifungal, and antibacterial meds drop.
grrljock
@aimai: Ugh, that describes our younger son, so I suppose this October we have to steel ourselves. I work in public health and my spouse is a teacher, so we always get our flu shots.
Juju
My father was a physician and didn’t put up with whining and complaining and there were no treats. The only treat I ever got was from the person giving the vaccination. I don’t have children so I can’t answer, but I suspect I’d have been as hardassed about it as my parents were.
As an aside, I will say to anyone willing to listen, the one flu vaccine I wouldn’t skip is H1N1 or its variants. That one flu bug is a hit by a bus full body blow. That was the one time in my life I felt as if I could have died from the flu. Don’t mess with that one if it comes around again. I was sick in bed for six weeks and it took months to feel normal again.
As always, thanks Richard for the insurance advice.