{"id":190485,"date":"2025-12-13T23:19:27","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T23:19:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/190485\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T23:19:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T23:19:27","slug":"parents-urged-to-consider-flu-jabs-for-children-as-stocks-of-nasal-vaccine-run-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/190485\/","title":{"rendered":"Parents urged to consider flu jabs for children as stocks of nasal vaccine run out"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The HSE does not have any more children\u2019s nasal spray flu vaccine, meaning that pharmacists cannot top up dwindling stocks amid <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishexaminer.com\/news\/arid-41752464.html\">a rise in Christmas flu levels<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">HSE figures show that record numbers of children have been vaccinated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Sheena Mitchell, pharmacist at Milltown totalhealth Pharmacy, said: \u201cWe\u2019re dealing with <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishexaminer.com\/news\/munster\/arid-41753376.html\">quite a virulent strain of flu this year<\/a> and it\u2019s making people really, really sick.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">However, pharmacists who requested more nasal spray vaccines from the HSE medicine delivery service were turned away this week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">They were advised that the so-called Fluenz LAIV vaccine, mostly administered to children and teens, \u201cis no longer available to order from the HSE national cold chain service\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">They were instead advised to offer two other vaccines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">These vaccines are only available as injections.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/4897211_14_articleinline_Sheena_20Mitchell_2c_20Pharmacist_20_26_20Founder_20WonderCare.ie_20_201.jp.jpeg\" alt=\"Pharmacist Sheena Mitchell, who owns\u00a0 the totalhealth pharmacy in Milltown, Dublin.\u00a0\" title=\"Pharmacist Sheena Mitchell, who owns\u00a0 the totalhealth pharmacy in Milltown, Dublin.\u00a0\" class=\"card-img\"\/>Pharmacist Sheena Mitchell, who owns\u00a0 the totalhealth pharmacy in Milltown, Dublin.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Ms Mitchell said: \u201cWe weren\u2019t communicated with about an end-date or final delivery date. When we went to get it, we couldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cI know a lot of pharmacies have already run out, and we all of a sudden have a spike in demand. Now pharmacists can\u2019t get it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">She advised parents to phone around as these children\u2019s vaccines may still be in stock in some areas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cWe have about 100 doses left, so we\u2019re opening on Sunday for an additional clinic because the demand is there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">She pointed out that predicting vaccine demand is \u201cimpossible\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">However, she questioned why many parents had letters from the HSE this week about the nasal spray vaccine, but it appears the HSE \u201cdidn\u2019t engage with the national cold chain service to ask them what stock they have.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">A HSE spokesman confirmed:<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\n            All of the available LAIV supply has now been distributed by the HSE and it remains available in many pharmacies and GP.\u00a0\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"\">He said uptake in children aged from 2 to 17 years \u201cis the highest it has ever been in December, at 21%\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">An alternative injectable vaccine for children is \u201csafe and effective\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">He advised parents to discuss options with GPs or pharmacies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Anyone having difficulty getting a vaccine can also contact <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www2.hse.ie\/contact\/\">HSElive<\/a> on 1800 700700.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The HSE does not have any more children\u2019s nasal spray flu vaccine, meaning that pharmacists cannot top up&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[11246,9484,4888,103,2120,61,60],"class_list":["post-190485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-childrens-health","tag-christmas","tag-family","tag-health","tag-hse","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}