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Background: Worldwide, influenza epidemics cause hundreds of thousands of excess deaths annually. Pandemics still carry the threat of severe morbidity and mortality affecting millions. Patients with cardiac, respiratory, and other underlying diseases are at particular risk for serious illness. Nevertheless, a maximum of 50% to 65% of U.S. residents who should be vaccinated receive the vaccine -- partly due to fear of injections. An intranasal influenza vaccine, recently FDA approved, may improve immunization rates.
Vaccine Composition: FluMist is a trivalent live attenuated vaccine containing 2 Type A and 1 Type B strains, assessed to be the strains projected to circulate in the coming year. It induces serum antibodies to all 3 strains. The …