Nasal spray better than shots for kids

The spray is a weakened version of live flu virus.
BALTIMORE SUN
A nasal spray appears to be more effective than flu shots in protecting children under 5, according to a major study published today.
Researchers gave either flu shots or MedImmune's FluMist nasal spray to almost 8,000 young children in 2004 and found that of the nearly 500 children who caught the flu, those given shots caught it twice as often.
The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, was funded by MedImmune, which is trying to persuade the Food and Drug Administration to approve FluMist for use by children between ages 1 and 5. Researchers at the St. Louis University medical school say it's the largest pediatric study conducted comparing flu shots to the spray.
"It's good news. We need it, we need a new flu vaccine for children," said Dr. Neal A. Halsey, director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He was not involved in the study.
Why spray is better
Dr. Robert B. Belshe, the lead investigator and a professor of medicine and pediatrics at St. Louis University School of Medicine, said the spray works better in children because it's a weakened version of live flu virus. Injected vaccine is killed virus.
Another advantage, he said, is that while shots stimulate antibodies in the blood, the nasal spray stimulates antibodies in the blood and the nose.
"Shots are good at boosting pre-existing immunity," he said. "But they don't work as well where there is no pre-existing immunity."
The FDA approved FluMist for people between 5 and 49 in June 2003 but withheld approval for children under 5 because of previous studies linking it to wheezing problems among some youngsters. A refrigerated version of FluMist was approved by the FDA in January and is due to replace the current frozen formula, which has been criticized for having difficult storage requirements.