Now you can get your flu vaccine at home

Instead of going For the pharmacy to obtain the annual flu vaccine, many people in the United States will now be able to send it to the door to take home themselves.

Starting today, the Astrazeneca flumist is available through a Online Pharmacy in 34 states. Flumist is not a new vaccine. It was originally approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2003 and previously it could only be administered by a healthcare professional. But last September, the FDA said that the vaccine could be self-administered.

It is the first incursion of Astrazeneca in direct medicine to the consumer, a trend led by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly to sell their popular GLP-1 drugs for diabetes and weight management to patients.

“We recognized that people’s daily life is more crowded than ever and we knew we had to meet people where they are facing the realities of real life,” said Tonya Villafana, vice -president of the medical and scientific affairs of Astrazeneca, during a press conference on Thursday. “Flumist Home is designed to remove traditional obstacles to vaccination, things like the programming of the clinic visits, the wait in line and the fear of the needles.”

Astrazeneca hopes that an offer at home will contribute to increasing flu vaccination rates. Only about 47 percent of adults is vaccinated against the flu, according to the Centers for the control and prevention of diseases. Among the children, the flu vaccination rates are descending together with those of other routine childhood vaccines. From April 26 of this year, 49.2 percent of children received a flu vaccination, at the level of 53.4 percent at the same time of the previous season, according to the CDC.

“Being vaccinated every year is the best way to prevent influence, which causes diseases in a substantial part of the US population every year and can lead to serious complications, including hospitalization and death,” said Peter Marks, former director of the center for the evaluation and biological research of the FDA, in A declaration Last year on Flumist’s approval for self-administration.

The CDC ranked the 2024-2025 flu season As high severity in all age groups in the United States, resulting in at least 610,000 hospitalizations and 27,000 deaths. It was the most serious flu season from the 2009 H1N1 pandemic influence.

The approval of Astrazeneca of September 2024 was based on a study with the recipients and operators of the vaccines to evaluate whether the instructions for use had been designed appropriately so that they could use the vaccine safely and effectively.

The vaccine contains a weakened form of the living flu virus and protects from four types of influenza strains. It is approved for age 2 to 49. For those under the age of 18, it must be administered by a caregiver.

To order, customers will have to complete a medical screening questionnaire. An authorized healthcare professional will examine each presentation to determine eligibility. Once the admissibility and insurance is confirmed, the vaccine will be verified will be prescribed and sent directly to the buyer’s house on a date they select. Flumist is covered by most insurance plans, but consumers will have to pay a delivery commission of $ 8.99.

Astrazeneca states that Flumist is not yet available in all states due to local pharmacy laws, but the company aims to be able to provide the spray at home to all contiguous states in the future. The vaccine will continue to be available in the medical offices and in pharmacies for the administration by healthcare professionals throughout the country.