BILLINGS, Mt. — For the first time, mRNA technology is being used in flu shots, meaning patients in Billings may have a new option when they roll up their sleeve this year. The question isn't just "Did you get your flu shot," it's "Which one did you get?"
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Every fall, the same message arrives at the doctor's office, the pharmacy and even the grocery store: get your flu shot.
"I get my flu shot every year," Kyle Austin said.
Austin is a Billings pharmacist who is also running for senate as a libertarian candidate.
But not every flu shot is the same. Some vaccines are made using egg-based production, others using cell-based technology, and now, mRNA is joining the mix. Moderna's mFLUZIA is the very first flu vaccine using mRNA technology, and is only available to adults ages 50 and up. The mRNA acts like a recipe card for DNA to follow. It's the same technology that was used to develop the COVID-19 vaccine.
"This year we see the mRNA vaccine out there, which uses mRNA technology," Austin said.
Austin said it's a technology many Americans first heard about during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, it's being used to target the flu.
“It's a huge thing for ensuring a healthy population, a healthy lifestyle, preventing, you know, pandemics,” said Austin.
"It was more of like an approach to kind of improve what's already, what's available out there," Dr. Neil Ku with Billings Clinic said.
The FDA approved the new shot in September. But new doesn't necessarily mean available yet.
The new shot is available at some Billings pharmacies, including CVS and Albertson's, but Billings Clinic, Intermountain Health and Riverstone Health don't yet have it because it is still new to the market.
"Waiting for this for this vaccine to be available... you're certainly going to put put themselves at risk for being for getting the flu," Ku said.
His advice? Don't hold out for one flu shot if it means putting off a flu shot altogether.
"I think that the best time to get the flu vaccines when you think about it, and then when it's most convenient for you," Ku said.
And that may be the bottom line. The technology is changing; the advice isn't.
