FluMist can't compete in flu vax study

FluMist just got a big thumb's down in a study reviewing vaccine response in more than a million U.S. soldiers.

Looking over a period of three years, researchers found that the traditional intramuscular flu jab led to a 54 percent reduction in visits to a doctor's office compared with only a 21 percent reduction for the intranasal vaccine FluMist.

FluMist was approved to help guard children from the flu but the New York Times notes that the intranasal vaccine is increasingly popular among adults. But in the 2004-05 flu season adults taking FluMist were even more likely to end up in the hospital than patients who had received no treatment.

Dr. Chris Ambrose, the director of medical affairs for MedImmune, counters that their data indicates a much better response to FluMist among children.  

- read the article in the New York Times

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