Physician Advocates Nasal-Spray Vaccine

Some day, people may routinely go to a pharmacy and pick up a nasal-spray vaccine that protects against the flu. Researchers say a squirt up the nose seems to guard against influenza as effectively as a painful shot.

“This is a much better way to go,” said Dr. James C. King of the University of Maryland Medical Center. “Kids are terrified of getting shots.” And adults don’t like them either.

As a result, many people simply avoid the flu vaccine and hope they escape the miserable malady that strikes millions every year and kills about 20,000 of the most vulnerable patients.

A flu vaccine that is delivered through pain-free nasal spray or drops, said King, “could have important public health effects” by encouraging more people, particularly the needle-averse, to get vaccine protection every year.