Instead of going For pharmacies to get the annual flu vaccine, many in the United States will now be able to ship it to their doorstep.
Starting today, AstraZeneca’s Flumist is available through online pharmacies in 34 states. Flumist is not a new vaccine. It was originally approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2003 and was previously managed only by healthcare professionals. But last September, the FDA said the vaccine may be self-managed.
This is Astrazeneca’s first foray into direct-to-consumer drugs, a trend led by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly to sell its popular GLP-1 drug to patients for diabetes and weight management.
“We recognize that people’s daily lives are busier than ever before, and we know we need to meet people who are facing real life,” Tonya Villafana, vice president of medical and scientific affairs at AstraZeneca, said in a news conference Thursday. “Flumist Home aims to remove traditional vaccination barriers, such as scheduling clinic visits, waiting in line, and fear of needles.”
Astrazeneca hopes that products at home will help increase flu vaccination rates. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only about 47% of adults have received flu. In children, the influenza vaccination rate is lower than the vaccination rate of other conventional childhood vaccines. As of April 26 this year, 49.2% of children received flu vaccination according to the CDC, while 53.4% lower than the previous season.
“Every yearly vaccination is the best way to prevent influenza, which can cause a large portion of the disease every year and can lead to serious complications including hospitalization and death,” said Peter Marks, former director of the FDA Center for Biological Assessment and Research.
The CDC classifies the 2024-2025 flu season as a high degree of severity of all ages in the United States, resulting in at least 610,000 hospitalizations and 27,000 deaths. This is the worst flu season since the H1N1 swine flu pandemic in 2009.
Astrazeneca’s September 2024 approval is based on research with vaccine recipients and caregivers to assess whether use directives are properly designed so that they can use the vaccine safely and effectively.
The vaccine contains a weak form of live influenza virus and prevents four types of influenza strains. It is approved for ages 2 to 49. For those under the age of 18, it must be managed by a caregiver.
To order, the customer will need to complete the medical screening questionnaire. Licensed health care providers will review each submission to determine eligibility. Once eligibility is confirmed and insurance is verified, the vaccine will be prescribed directly and shipped directly to the purchaser’s home on the date they choose. Most insurance plans cover Flumist, but consumers will be charged a $8.99 delivery fee.
Astrazeneca said that all states have not yet provided Flumist due to local pharmacy laws, but the company aims to be able to provide home spray to all consecutive countries in the future. The vaccine will continue to be available in doctors’ offices and pharmacies for healthcare professionals nationwide.
