Instead of going to the pharmacy to get the annual flu vaccine, many people in the US will now be able to get it shipped to their door to take at home themselves.
Starting today, AstraZeneca’s FluMist is available through an 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 could only be administered by a health care professional. But last September, the FDA said the vaccine could be self-administered.
It’s AstraZeneca’s first foray into direct-to-consumer medicine—a trend being spearheaded 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 lives are busier than ever, and we knew we needed to meet people where they are facing the realities of real life,” said Tonya Villafana, vice president of medical and scientific affairs at AstraZeneca, at a press conference on Thursday. “FluMist Home is designed to remove traditional obstacles to vaccination, things like scheduling clinic visits, waiting in line, and the fear of needles.”
AstraZeneca is hoping that an at-home offering will help boost flu vaccination rates. Only about 47 percent of adults get vaccinated against flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among children, flu vaccination rates are dropping along with those of other routine childhood vaccines. As of April 26 this year, 49.2 percent of children received a flu vaccination—lower than 53.4 percent at the same time the previous season, per the CDC.
“Getting vaccinated each year is the best way to prevent influenza, which causes illness in a substantial proportion of the US population every year and may result in serious complications, including hospitalization and death,” said Peter Marks, former director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, in a statement last year on FluMist’s approval for self-administration.
The CDC classified the 2024-2025 flu season as high severity across all age groups in the US, resulting in at least 610,000 hospitalizations and 27,000 deaths. It was the most severe flu season since the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic.
AstraZeneca’s September 2024 approval was based on a study with vaccine recipients and caregivers to evaluate whether the instructions for use were appropriately designed so that they could safely and effectively use the vaccine.
The vaccine contains a weakened form of the live influenza virus and protects against four types of flu strains. It is approved for ages 2 through 49. For those under 18, it must be administered by a caregiver.
To order, customers will need to complete a medical screening questionnaire. A licensed health care provider will review each submission to determine eligibility. Once eligibility is confirmed and insurance is verified, the vaccine will be prescribed and shipped directly to the purchaser’s home on a date they select. FluMist is covered by most insurance plans, but consumers will need to pay an $8.99 delivery fee.
AstraZeneca says FluMist is not yet available in all states due to local pharmacy laws, but the company aims to be able to provide the at-home spray to all the contiguous states in the future. The vaccine will continue to be available in doctors’ offices and pharmacies for administration by health care professionals across the country.
