<p>Kids with a fear of needles got good news recently when a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) panel recommended using the nasal spray flu vaccine instead of the flu shot in healthy children two–eight years of age. The ACIP panel reported that research showed healthy young children were less likely to get the flu when given the nasal spray versus an injection.</p>
<p>The new ACIP recommendation is based on a review of available studies that suggests the nasal spray flu vaccine can provide better protection than the flu shot in this age group against laboratory-confirmed, medically attended flu illness. The recommendation also says that if the nasal spray flu vaccine is not immediately available, the flu shot should be given so that opportunities to vaccinate children are not missed or delayed. Since 2010, the CDC and ACIP have recommended that everyone six months and older get a flu vaccine annually.</p>
<p>The new ACIP recommendation is still going through the necessary stages of approval and must next be adopted by the CDC director, then incorporated into the 2014-2015 influenza prevention and control recommendations, and published in a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), at which point it will become official CDC policy.</p>
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