Until this year, nasal spray flu vaccines were an alternative to flu shots.
The Choate Health Center is solely offering flu shots this year, and not offering the nasal spray as it has done in previous years. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) voted in June to disallow use of the nasal spray flu vaccine, or the live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV), for the 2016-2017 year. The CDC recommends getting an annual flu shot with either the inactivated influenza vaccine (IIV) or recombinant influenza vaccine (RIV). In accordance with these recommendations, health center staff have begun visiting each dorm to administer flu shots; they visited dorms such as Bernhard House, Tenney House, and Nichols House.
Dr. Christopher Diamond, Director of Health Services, expressed his hopes, “My goal is still to get 100 percent of, or at least close to 100 percent of, the students protected.”
He explained the CDC’s decision, “The nasal spray had about 86% effectiveness rate per year, and it was considered to be the better vaccine. However, when the CDC looked at the information again for the last two years, its protection rate had plummeted to only 6%. No one really understands why.” He added, “Maybe the reason why LAIV was getting such low rates was because people just didn’t know how to use it.”
He recounted his eldest child’s experience with getting the nasal spray. Dr. Diamond said, “The vaccine had a little syringe and a little bracket on it. You are supposed to squeeze it till the bracket hits one nostril. Then you have to take the bracket off and squeeze the rest into the other. I watched him do it; he squeezed a little into one nostril, and squeezed a little into the other and was done. And I got his attention, and said ‘you know that there is half the dose in there.’ And he said, ‘no I gave half in one, and half in the other.’ And I said no let me show you, and I clipped it off, and I said ‘now you have more.’”
This year, Dr. Diamond and Associate Director of the Health Center Ms. Karen Klein decided to make vaccinations more convenient for students by bringing the flu clinics to the dorms. Ms. Klein said, “We are going to every dorm with one or two nurses who will bring the flu vaccine and all the supplies with them as well as fun band aids and Blow Pops to create a more fun and festive atmosphere for flu clinic.” The band aids will feature emojis and minions, she added.
The flu kills 20 to 40 thousand people per year, usually the elderly and weak. Dr. Diamond remarked, “There are two main reasons why we take the flu shot. First, students won’t have to miss seven to ten days of school for being ill. Second, it is really a potentially deadly disease. The fewer of us who have it, the better off we are as a community.”
Ms. Klein echoed the same sentiment, “It is good for individuals to get vaccinated for their own health, and it is also good for the whole community. This is a way that everyone can participate in creating a healthier environment.”
Every year, different strains of the flu are more prevalent. Scientists try to predict which strains will be the most common when they create flu vaccines. Although they try their best to produce the most effective vaccines, scientists cannot always achieve this.
“No immunization is 100% perfect. It takes about two weeks to get a full effect from the vaccination.” Dr. Diamond clarified, “The flu shot cannot give you the flu. If you get sick the day after you get the flu shot, it means you were exposed to someone with the flu in the past week.”
