Story highlights American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a flu shot for everyone 6 months and older

FluMist is not available this year

(CNN) With flu season just around the corner, parents face a difficult moment with their kids. The American Academy of Pediatrics updated its annual flu season guidelines today, withdrawing its recommendation of the child-friendly FluMist for this year. The reason? This summer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deemed FluMist subpar, leaving only one option for parents and pediatricians: a flu shot.

"We've already gotten our first shipment in, and I have already had those conversations with patients," said New York pediatrician Dr. Lisa Thebner. When she explained to parents that FluMist is not being distributed this year, "there may have been an 'aw shucks' moment, but of the patients I've seen so far, they've gotten the flu shot, regardless."

The recommendation to inoculate children against the flu remains as strong and clear as it has been in previous years. Everyone 6 months or older should be vaccinated for the 2016-17 flu season by October, according to the pediatricians' academy.

Special effort should be made for American Indian and Alaska Native children and those with conditions that increase the risk of complications including asthma, diabetes and neurodevelopmental disorders. The academy also advises health care personnel and child care providers get a flu shot. Finally, it recommends that more effort be made to immunize women who are pregnant in addition to women considering pregnancy, breastfeeding or in the postpartum period.

"You know, previous to the swine flu epidemic, which was seven years ago this fall, influenza vaccines were sometimes a hard sell," said Dr. David Henderson, an OhioHealth pediatrics physician. But the many hospitalizations and even fatalities resulting from the swine flu frightened people.

Read More