A needle-free nasal spray helps protect young children against flu.
Flu can be a very unpleasant illness for children, with potentially serious complications, including bronchitis and pneumonia.
The vaccine is available to children over 18 months and under 18 years of age.
Specialist vaccine nurses at Fleet Street Clinic give the flu vaccine to children.
Children aged 2 to 17 with long-term health conditions such as diabetes are at higher risk from flu.
It’s especially important that they are vaccinated with the annual flu nasal spray instead of the annual flu jab, which they were previously given.
Children between the ages of six months and two years who are at high risk from flu are offered the annual flu jab, usually at their GP surgery.
The nasal spray flu vaccine has few side effects – most commonly getting a runny nose after vaccination for a few days.
The vaccine is given as a single spray squirted up each nostril. As well as being needle-free,, the nasal spray is quick, painless, and works even better than the injected flu vaccine.
The vaccine is absorbed very quickly. It will still work even if, after the vaccination, your child develops a runny nose, sneezes or blows their nose.
If a child is heavily blocked up or has a runny nose, it might stop the vaccine getting into their system. In this case, their flu vaccination should be postponed until their nasal symptoms have cleared up.
If a child is wheezy, their vaccination should be postponed until they have been wheeze-free for at least three days.
There are a few children who should avoid the nasal spray flu vaccine.
The vaccine is not recommended for children who have:
Children unable to have the nasal spray vaccine may be able to have the injectable flu vaccine instead.
Flu is a very common infection in babies and children. It can be very unpleasant for them.
The flu vaccine for children has a good safety record. In the UK, millions of children have been vaccinated safely and successfully.
The vaccine contains live but weakened flu viruses that do not cause flu in children. It will help your child build up immunity to flu in a similar way as natural infection, but without the symptoms.
Because the main flu viruses change each year, a new nasal spray vaccine has to be given each year, in the same way as the injectable flu vaccine.
The nasal spray flu vaccine will not only help protect your child against flu, the infection will also be less able to spread from them to their family, carers and the wider population.
Children spread flu because they generally don’t use tissues properly or wash their hands.
Vaccinating children protects others that are vulnerable to flu, such as babies, older people, pregnant women and people with serious long-term illnesses.
Your child may require a second dose if your child has not received it before.
The nasal flu vaccine costs £40 and is administered by an expert nurse.
You can visit our drop-in flu clinic in central London to receive the nasal flu vaccine from Monday – Friday at Fleet Street Clinic, 29 Fleet Street, London, EC4Y 1AA. Our Drop-In service runs Monday through Friday 9am – 5pm.
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