Amy (and I’m “replying all” on purpose as I suspect others will be interested in this discussion)-

I am trying to bring FluMist on board as an option in our flu vaccine campaign – the vaccine remains a mandate here, even for fully remote employees. I’ve lost that battle every year for 3 years. My Hospital Epi/ID, while not opposed, wants to have a formal conversation about efficacy and safety and how the FluMist would impact us operationally. I am generally aware of this information, but I am struggling to pull together the best published data to support the efficacy and safety data to support. I know there are some limiting factors (LIMFACs, from my military days) – age restrictions, complicating medical conditions, pregnancy, etc – and I saw Rachel’s comment on the 7 day masking requirement, with which I concur.

Operationally, the arguments are relatively simple. Administration is so much quicker, cleaner, and easier, and really much cheaper since we wouldn’t have to pay for nursing time for administration clinics.

I guess where I’m going with this is: did you have to do any convincing to get your institution to agree to purchase/provide FluMist, and if so, what did you use? Are you able to share your “ammunition”? Following the discussion with ID, I have to meet the pharmacy antimicrobial committee to get that group on board. Love the bureaucracy!

Thanks for any ideas or suggestions!

David

From: "Amy Behrman, M.D. MD, FACOEM via American College of Occupational and" Environmental Medicine <Mail@ConnectedCommunity.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 2026 5:24 PM
To: David S. Cockrum <David.S.Cockrum@hitchcock.org>
Subject: RE: Medical Center Occupational Health: At Home Flu Vaccine **EXTERNAL**

Hi Everyone, I touched base with Astra Zeneca. They will have FluMist in all 50 states, and Flumist-At-Home in 48 (omitting Alaska and. . . -posted to the "Medical Center Occupational Health" community Catch up on activity from your Component,

Hi Everyone, I touched base with Astra Zeneca. They will have FluMist in all 50 states, and Flumist-At-Home in 48 (omitting Alaska and... -posted to the "Medical Center Occupational Health" community

Catch up on activity from your Component, Section, and Governance groups.

American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine [community.acoem.org]

Medical Center Occupational Health [community.acoem.org]

Post New Message Online [community.acoem.org] Post New Message

Re: At Home Flu Vaccine [community.acoem.org]

Reply to Group Online [community.acoem.org]

Reply to Group

Reply to Sender [community.acoem.org]

Reply to Sender via Email

[community.acoem.org]

Jul 22, 2026 4:24 PM

Amy Behrman, M.D. MD, FACOEM [community.acoem.org]

Hi Everyone,

I touched base with Astra Zeneca. They will have FluMist in all 50 states, and Flumist-At-Home in 48 (omitting Alaska and Hawaii for transportation/temperature control concerns). We hope to have it as an onsite influenza vaccine option at Penn. Amy

Amy J Behrman, MD, FACP, FACOEM

Chief, Occupational Medicine

Professor, Perelman School of Medicine

University of Pennsylvania

3400 Spruce Street

Philadelphia, PA 19104

Reply to Group Online [community.acoem.org] Reply to Group via Email Reply to Sender Online [community.acoem.org] Reply to Sender via Email View Thread [community.acoem.org] Recommend [community.acoem.org] Forward [community.acoem.org] Post New Message Online [community.acoem.org] Post New Message via Email

-------------------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 7/21/2026 4:42:00 PM
From: Melanie Swift, MD, MPH, FACOEM
Subject: RE: At Home Flu Vaccine

Last year, we added it to the list of available options in our online flu vaccine self-report tool, where employees would normally report externally administered vaccines. The self-report tool has a document upload feature.

If your institution requires documentation, you can instruct employees to use the online pharmacy portal AstraZeneca provides to log in and verify their FluMist self-administration. Then they can obtain their vaccination record in that portal. Their portal will also send the record to their state's immunization information system (IIS).

Last year, it wasn't available in 14 states, including MN, but we have many employees living in other states where it was available. Has anyone heard if it will be available in all states this year?

------------------------------
Melanie Swift MD, MPH, FACOEM
Professor of Medicine
Mayo Clinic
Rochester MN
615-579-0943
------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 07-21-2026 01:45 PM
From: Jennifer Lund, DO, MPH, FACOEM
Subject: At Home Flu Vaccine

Hello,

In preparation for flu season, I was wondering how other medical centers are handling the at home flu vaccine. Are you accepting it? What documentation are you requesting?

Thank you!

------------------------------
Jennifer Lund DO, MPH, FACOEM
Inova Health System
Alexandria VA
------------------------------

You are subscribed to "Medical Center Occupational Health" as david.s.cockrum@hitchcock.org. To change your subscriptions, go to My Subscriptions [acoem.connectedcommunity.org]. To unsubscribe from this community discussion, go to Unsubscribe [acoem.connectedcommunity.org].