The communique comes after more than 80 children received the intranasal vaccine in May despite not being indicated for it.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration has released a medicine safety update for FluMist, the intranasal influenza vaccine.
The update serves as a reminder that FluMist, a live attenuated influenza vaccine, is only indicated in children and adolescents between the ages of two and 17 years.
The alert follows a number of adverse event reports involving FluMist in children under two years of age being registered with the federal government’s Database of Adverse Event Notifications.
The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing reported that 116 of the 161 FluMist-related adverse event reports it received in May 2026 related to children under the age of two, including 89 instances where the product was administered to a patient of inappropriate age and 38 instances of the wrong product being administered.
While none of the reports were classified as serious, the government has advised healthcare professionals to confirm the age of the child before administering FluMist, and to review the relevant information for the product listed on the TGA website
FluMist is funded for all children aged between two and 17 years in Queensland and New South Wales, children between two and 12 years in Western Australia, and children aged between two and five years in South Australia.
Related
The vaccine is available via private prescription for other children in Western and South Australia, and for children aged between two and 17 years in Victoria, the Northern Territory, and Tasmania.
The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne is currently running the SNIFFLES study, where children aged two to nine years can receive FluMist instead of the standard injectable flu shot.
The National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System has recorded 34,799 cases of laboratory-confirmed influenza between 1 January and 10 June, with more than 4300 of these cases occurring in children under five years of age.
Further information about the influenza vaccines is available from the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance Australia website.
