Have any of you had the flumist vaccine this year?

December 15, 2004 12:35 PM

Have any of you had the flumist vaccine this year? How did you react to it-did you get sick? (MI)

My son is required to have it before he leaves to come home on Christmas break(He is at the Air Force Academy but apparently all the military academies are doing this).

Apparently they have been told they could be a little sick for up to seven days. So he gets to choose between feeling like crap for exams or feeling like crap at home....at least that is what people are saying.

He is a healthy 20 year old, if that matters.

posted by konolia to health & fitness (17 comments total)

The majority of the staff at the hospital I work at received the mist vaccine. Nobody I spoke to that received the mist appeared to have any adverse effects from it.
posted by makonan at 12:50 PM on December 15, 2004

I took the flumist vaccine a few weeks ago and had zero side effects. Kind of surprised me, actually, because I usually get a little sick after a regular flu shot.
posted by nixxon at 12:59 PM on December 15, 2004

If he is healthy - he should be fine. From the FDA site :

"LAIV contains attenuated (or weakened) viruses. These weakened strains usually do not cause illness because they have lost virulence (disease-causing properties). There is, however, a possibility that they can still reproduce and cause disease, especially in persons with weakened immune systems. "

Flu shot is inactive vs. attenuated and lacks the ability to cause illness other than an allergic response to one of the inactive ingreidients (usually eggs).
posted by Wolfie at 1:04 PM on December 15, 2004

So he gets to choose between feeling like crap for exams or feeling like crap at home

You are right to be worried. Check out "Risks of FluMist Vaccine, An Investigation By Dr. Sherri Tenpenny", as well as "Dangers of Flu Mist and Injectable Vaccines".
posted by rajbot at 1:49 PM on December 15, 2004

Since he's required to take it, I suggest just getting it over with. Considering that he's 20 years old, healthy, and in Air Force shape, he's probably unlikely to feel any sort of effects.

If you still have that mother's worry, try talking him into drinking extra orange juice for a few days before and after.
posted by Saydur at 2:02 PM on December 15, 2004

BTW cadets with new babies or cancer patients at home (in other words, immune system compromised) are not required to have the vaccine. So if you are in a similar category, y'all need to avoid Air Force cadets this Christmas. Also Naval Academy and West Point, if my info is correct.

My son just doesn't want to feel like crap during his Calc 2 exam. Not to mention he just recently had a bad cold...a couple of days or so after some other immunizations and a tb test.
posted by konolia at 2:10 PM on December 15, 2004

Wow... I just took a final on this stuff this morning. Wolfie is right in saying that if you are healthy you will most likely experience no effects.

Flumist contains a live virus. The virus is a mutant of a original influenza virus. The mutant has been bred so that it can only function and replicate a low temperatures (25C) -- the temperatures of the upper airway, and not at 37C (so it won't replicate and affect the lungs).

Anyway, this mutated virus (called Master Donor Virus), like all influenza viruses contain 8 genomic segments. Two of these segments are particularly important in influenza replication and spread: Hemaglutinin and Neuraminidase.

Every year, the influenza virus we encounter is new -- that is, it has novel variants of each one of the 8 genomic changes. (Which is why we need a new flu shot every year.) But, they (genetics people) recombine the Hemaglutinin and Neuraminidase segments from the current year's pathogenic influenza with the non-pathogenic MDV's 6 other genomic segments to create a Vaccine Strain of influenza.

This vaccine strain is then grown (in chicken egg cells -- hopefully without contamination), and given to us. Then, our accquired immune system does its job, produces antibodies and builds up a immunological memory. Thus we gain immunity from the current pathogenic influenza strain. (Because our body kills off anything expressing the current Hemaglutinin and Neuraminidase segments.)

This approach is very effective in healthy adults. However, FluMist is not a safe option in the immunosuppressed or in those dealing with the immunosuppressed (health care workers), because there is always the risk of random mutations.

But overall, if you can, and if you're healthy, you should get the Flu Shot.... although it's kind of late -- as flu season is almost half over. Good luck and hope this helps.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor (yet), so check with your physician before making any health related decision.
posted by ruwan at 3:13 PM on December 15, 2004

funny anecdote that may not help you: when I was 23 I was coached by my boss to take the flu-shot as it would make "the other girls dare". Up until then, I never had the flu - even once - in my life. I was sick as a dog with the flu about five days later and have been battling every flu around every year, ever since (i'm now 32).
posted by dabitch at 4:14 PM on December 15, 2004

dabitch - I had flu shots and flu for several years until I got the pneumonia shot also. IANAD, just an ex-smoker.
posted by Cranberry at 4:43 PM on December 15, 2004

That is a funny anecdote, dabitch, but too many people take that kind of anecdote as serious evidence. So here are some facts for people:

1) A Flu shot cannot make you sick, except for injection site reactions such as a bit of swelling. Period. The virus is dead. It is an ex-virus. It is pining for the fjords. Okay? (Note to pedants: I suppose it is also possible to have an allergic reaction to the eggs or whatever used to make the vaccine).

2) A flu shot does not make you more likely to get the flu. Period. It makes it a lot less likely, but you can still get sick. Flu shots are something like 66% effective *if* they guess the right strains to include. That means that some years, like last year, they will be less effective. But it should make the flu a bit less severe even if you still get sick.

3) Vaccines do not cause autism or other diseases. This is a belief that some people with sick kids grab on to to explain why their kids got sick. That's understandable, but we must not pander to them. If my kid was sick, I'd want to know why too, but it is not caused by a vaccine.

4) Next time there is a pandemic, I hope all the anti-flu vaccine people don't all die. And I hope they don't cause other people to die, which is what I am afraid of. I'm not being sarcastic... I'm really afraid that a flu vaccine backlash could cause hundreds of thousands or millions of deaths.

5) Lastly, the inhaled FluMist *can* make you sick. Not as sick as getting the flu but it can make you feel really crappy for a while.
posted by Justinian at 5:23 PM on December 15, 2004

sorry, didn't want to sound alarmist, and I should note that I hadn't eaten eggs for over ten years (though I am not allergic). I was just a freak 0 point 0 point something that got the flu from it that year. ;)
posted by dabitch at 6:30 PM on December 15, 2004

ps, thanks Cranberry, I might just brave the pneumonia shot shot to see if that helps, though lately I've been able to kick the real flu in days, whilst others around me are bedridden for a week or two.
posted by dabitch at 6:31 PM on December 15, 2004

Why would the military require Flumist, are they testing it on them? I don't see any reason to get that unless you are allergic to the shot components.
posted by rhyax at 8:03 PM on December 15, 2004

The military may require Flumist because we don't want our entire army calling in sick with the flu. They use Flumist because it is more effective, easier to give, and excellent for healthy adults (who are the majority of the military I would hope).
posted by ruwan at 8:55 PM on December 15, 2004

Yes, the Flumist has a couple advantages. As Ruwan says, it is very effective. It does not require an injection so you don't need a nurse for it. And, perhaps most importantly, there is no shortage of it!

The flu vaccine shortage has to do with contamination in the injected dead virus vaccine supply. There were no problems with the live virus vaccine. And since you shouldn't give the live vaccine to old or sick people, there are no ethical problems with the military bogarting all of it they can find.
posted by Justinian at 9:01 PM on December 15, 2004

I had the FluMist this year. I felt like crap the next day (mostly just very tired, little headache), but no other ill effects.
posted by Caviar at 10:33 AM on December 16, 2004

Thanks everyone! I passed your info on and he was glad to have it.
posted by konolia at 12:59 PM on December 16, 2004