Getting your yearly flu vaccine is essential to prevent illness during cold and flu season. But if you’re not a fan of needles, the experience isn’t exactly enjoyable. Enter: FluMist, the newly FDA-approved at-home nasal flu vaccine.

A nasal spray to prevent influenza could make it easier for more people to get vaccinated, said Dr. Katherine Gergen-Barnett. But it won't be available until next flu season.

Most respiratory viruses, like the flu and COVID-19, enter the body through the nose. When an infected person exhales, sneezes, coughs, or even laughs, they release droplets containing the virus, which others can inhale. These pathogens attach to the nasal lining, replicate, and are further spread.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first nasal spray flu vaccine which can be administered by the patient or a caregiver. FluMist, produced by European pharmaceutical company and Covid vaccine-maker AstraZeneca, was announced last week and can be used by adults aged 49 and under.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a nasal spray flu vaccine, FluMist, that consumers aged 2 to 49  will be able to administer themselves

T he first-ever needleless flu vaccine that can be given at home was just approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. FluMist is a nasal spray that provides protection against influenza A and B, and it’s now approved for self-administration in adults up to age 49 and caregiver-administration for kids ages 2 to 17.

People could previously get the nasal spray flu vaccine, called FluMist, from a health care provider, but now they can administer it themselves.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first at-home flu vaccine that people can self-administer.