If you’ve opted to get vaccinated against the swine flu, you might be wondering which of the two available types you should get, the traditional shot in the arm or the nasal spray. Canadians, by the way, won’t have to make a choice, as the nasal spray is not available in Canada.
Both kinds of vaccines are made the same way. The virus is injected into chicken eggs and grown into larger quantities. If you have a known allergy to chicken eggs or a compromised immune system due to some other medical condition, talk to your doctor about whether flu vaccination is even an option for you.
For the vaccine that is administered by needle, the virus is harvested from the eggs, killed and chopped into segments. When it is injected into you, it activates your body’s immune system to produce the antibodies that will kill the actual flu virus should you become exposed to it.
When making the nasal-spray vaccine, the virus is grown in the eggs at lower temperatures, which weakens it so that it can only survive in the nose. The nasal vaccine infects the mucosal cells that are closely monitored by your immune system and once this system detects the vaccine, it produces permanent immunity to the flu virus.
Only healthy people ages 2 to 49 and who aren’t pregnant can receive the nasal-spray vaccine. If you fall into this category and cringe at the thought of having to get a needle, the nasal spray might be the way to go. However, if you are getting both the seasonal and the swine flu shots, you will need to wait four weeks in between the two nasal-spray vaccines.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), you can’t get the flu from either the injectable vaccine or the nasal-spray, because the viruses have been inactivated. With the flu shot, minor side effects can occur, including soreness, redness or swelling where the shot is given, low grade fever, aches and nausea. These problems could occur soon after the shot is given and last from 1 to 2 days.
The nasal spray can cause the following side effects in children:
- runny nose
- wheezing
- headache
- vomiting
- muscle aches
- fever
In adults, side effects, if they occur include:
- runny nose
- headache
- sore throat
- cough
There can be serious side effects from either vaccine but these are very rare. One such side effect is Guillian-Barre Syndrome, a rare disorder in which the person’s own immune system damages nerve cells. Visit the CDC website for questions and answers about this condition.
The Flu.gov website has links to Q & A’s about both the H1N1 nasal spray and the needle that answers questions about what symptons to look for in the event of any kind of severe reaction and how to proceed.
