October 29, 2004 GAITHERSBURG, Md. (AP) -- MedImmune Inc.'s FluMist vaccine will be included in the federal Vaccines for Children program next year, meaning eligible children can get the nasal spray for free.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta added the flu vaccine for the 2005-2006 flu season. The program is designed to get needed vaccines to healthy children ages 5 to 18 enrolled in Medicaid, those without health insurance and American Indian and Alaskan native children.
About 9 million children are currently eligible for the program.
CDC spokeswoman Bonnie Hebert said adding FluMist to the program could potentially free up supplies of flu shots for children who can't use the nasal spray. FluMist is only approved for healthy people between the ages of 5 and 49.
MedImmune had planned to produce only 1.1 million doses of FluMist this year, but agreed recently to raise that number to 3 million because of a national shortage of flu shots.
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
