Getting your yearly flu vaccine is essential to prevent illness during cold and flu season. But if you’re not a fan of needles, the experience isn’t exactly enjoyable. Enter: FluMist, the newly FDA-approved at-home nasal flu vaccine.

FluMist is the only nasal flu vaccine, but it is not new. The FDA approved it in 2003 for people 5 to 49 years old before expanding eligibility in 2007 to children as young as 2 years old — requiring in both instances that it be administered by a vaccine provider.

Most respiratory viruses, like the flu and COVID-19, enter the body through the nose. When an infected person exhales, sneezes, coughs, or even laughs, they release droplets containing the virus, which others can inhale. These pathogens attach to the nasal lining, replicate, and are further spread.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first nasal spray flu vaccine which can be administered by the patient or a caregiver. FluMist, produced by European pharmaceutical company and Covid vaccine-maker AstraZeneca, was announced last week and can be used by adults aged 49 and under.

T he first-ever needleless flu vaccine that can be given at home was just approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. FluMist is a nasal spray that provides protection against influenza A and B, and it’s now approved for self-administration in adults up to age 49 and caregiver-administration for kids ages 2 to 17.

People could previously get the nasal spray flu vaccine, called FluMist, from a health care provider, but now they can administer it themselves.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first at-home flu vaccine that people can self-administer.

US's FluMist can now be administered by a healthcare provider or by recipient or caregiver aged 18 or above. India's Nasovac S4 faces hurdles like cost, availability & low acceptance.