Needle or nothing for most parents as flu spray scarce
While health-care officials are encouraging a greater number of flu vaccinations, the Alberta government has stopped offering free nasal mist for young children, a product difficult to even purchase at pharmacies.
As public clinics opened Monday to ward off what could be a nasty strain of the illness, it appears it’ll be tough, if not impossible, to buy the nasal spray in Calgary at drugstores for those who prefer it over needles for children over two years of age.
Several leading pharmacies contacted by Postmedia said while they provide the regular shots, they won’t be offering for sale the vaccine known as FluMist this year, some saying it hasn’t been “approved” by health care authorities.
In a statement, the AHS said the product “is no longer recommended by the National Advisory Committee on Immunization as a preferential vaccine for children, so Alberta Health didn’t order it.”
After its introduction to Canada in 2010, the nasal mist was once considered more effective than the injectable version, but that’s no longer the case, said Dr. Judy MacDonald, the AHS’s medical officer of health for the Calgary zone.
“We know the injectable vaccine and nasal spray are both equally effective and safe,” she said.
The spray’s higher cost might be one reason for the decision to discontinue it, said MacDonald, while other AHS officials say the main rationale is that using one type of vaccine simplifies the vaccination process and increases availability.
Alberta Health says a dose of FluMist is double the price of an injected shot and has a shorter expiry date.
While accompanying her young grandchildren for flu vaccinations at the South Calgary Health Centre on Monday, Laurie Barnett said the absence of the nasal mist could deter some parents from having needle-wary children protected from the illness.
“For some kids, it’s a problem; for kids who are very frightened, it might be an issue,” said Barnett, who added her three-year-old granddaughter handled the needle with little fuss.
While noting some pharmacies have said they’re not carrying the nasal spray, MacDonald said it’s possible they still might if demand proves sufficient and parents are willing to pay for it. “It’s not under embargo,” she said.
AHS officials say they’re trying to nudge up the vaccination rate from last year’s 27 per cent and have procured enough vaccine to cover 35 per cent of the population.
There’s some concern a virulent AH3 flu strain that increased the severity of the latest influenza season in Australia could do the same here.
Last year, 64 people died from the flu in Alberta — 18 of them in Calgary — and more than 1,600 people were hospitalized provincewide.
Flu vaccines often aren’t more effective than 40 to 50 per cent, but MacDonald said with this year’s formula attacking three to four different strains of flu, its benefits are clear.
“If you get no vaccine, you get influenza instead,” she said. “Influenza is a serious respiratory infection and even healthy people can end up in hospital.”
Those most affected by the illness are the very young and old, pregnant women and those with chronic medical conditions.
In Calgary, walk-in flu vaccination clinics are open five days a week at Brentwood Mall, the South Calgary Health Centre, Richmond Road Diagnostic Treatment Centre and Northgate. Many pharmacies across the city are also offering shots.