About the nasal spray flu vaccine for children

The children’s nasal spray flu vaccine is offered every year to children (aged 2 and 3 years old, aged 6 months to 17 years old with certain health conditions or in Reception to Year 11) to help protect them against flu. Flu can be a very unpleasant illness for children and can lead to serious problems, such as bronchitis and pneumonia. The child flu vaccine reduces a child’s chance of needing hospital care for flu by around two thirds.

Children aged 6 months to 3 years will be given the vaccination at their general practice, usually by the practice nurse. School-aged children and young people will be offered the flu vaccine in school. For most children, the vaccine will be given as a spray in each nostril. This is a very quick and painless procedure.

The nasal spray vaccine contains small traces of pork gelatine. If this is not suitable, parents and guardians can speak to their child’s nurse or doctor about the non-porcine flu injection for children.

Read more about the flu vaccine for children.

Exceptional circumstances for use in adults

The nasal spray may be offered to adults with exceptional circumstances, such as serious needle phobia. This group will likely include adults with learning disabilities who experience significant barriers to vaccination, or those in a clinical at-risk group who will otherwise go unimmunised if they refuse to have the injected inactivated vaccine.