CDC panel recommends against using FluMist vaccine

The FDA first approved the nasal spray in 2003. MedImmune, a subsidiary of London-based AstraZeneca PLC, produces FluMist, a live attenuated influenza vaccine. By contrast, the flu shot is an inactivated influenza vaccine. Though the viruses in FluMist are live, they have been weakened (attenuated, in medical terms) and work by stimulating the immune system. There are two versions of FluMist: one a trivalent vaccine, which protects against three strains of flu virus, and the other a quadrivalent, protecting against four strains. “We agree with [the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’] decision today to recommend health care providers and parents use only the inactivated vaccine,” Dr.