A nasal spray flu vaccine for people up to 49 will be available for home use starting in the fall of 2025 after the Food and Drug Administration expanded its approval of AstraZeneca's FluMist. Why it matters: It will be the first flu vaccine that doesn't need to be administered by a health provider and will be sold direct to consumers for home use via an online pharmacy.

Getting your yearly flu vaccine is essential to prevent illness during cold and flu season. But if you’re not a fan of needles, the experience isn’t exactly enjoyable. Enter: FluMist, the newly FDA-approved at-home nasal flu vaccine.

FluMist is the only nasal flu vaccine, but it is not new. The FDA approved it in 2003 for people 5 to 49 years old before expanding eligibility in 2007 to children as young as 2 years old — requiring in both instances that it be administered by a vaccine provider.

People could previously get the nasal spray flu vaccine, called FluMist, from a health care provider, but now they can administer it themselves.

The F.D.A. authorized AstraZeneca’s treatment to be given outside a health care setting, although it will still need a prescription.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first flu vaccine in the form of a nasal spray that can be administered at home by yourself. Influenza, the first nasal spray vac

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a nasal spray flu vaccine, FluMist, that consumers aged 2 to 49  will be able to administer themselves

I love being able to go to the pharmacy for my own (or my kids’) flu shots. Pop in, get the shot, then go about my day. That process is about to get even easier: the FDA has approved the first flu vaccine that you can administer yourself,

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first at-home flu vaccine that people can self-administer.