New studies indicate that a vaccine sprayed into the nose of children is more effective at preventing influenza than is the usual injected vaccine. Flu can and does cause hospitalizations and deaths in Canada, so health officials encourage people to get immunized starting in mid-October. Flu season usually goes from November to April.
Publicly-funded health care is under the jurisdiction of provincial and territorial governments and flu shots are free in most of them. But not all jurisdictions are offering free nasal spray vaccines and some are only offering them to high-risk children.
Age makes a difference
Flu shots are made from killed virus. The nasal spray uses live but weakened viruses, and studies indicate it is more effective for healthy children between the ages of two and 17. It appears to make no difference which vaccine adults get and it is better for the elderly to get the injection.
People who live in places where the nasal spray vaccine is not free are often able to get a prescription from doctors and pay for it themselves.
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