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CINCINNATI — The Kroger Co. has discontinued use of a needle-free flu vaccine system, known as a jet injector, in line with guidance issued by the Food and Drug Administration.
The Kroger Co. has discontinued use of a needle-free flu vaccine system, known as a jet injector, in line with guidance issued by the Food and Drug Administration.
Kroger said its supermarket pharmacies and The Little Clinic retail health clinics immediately stopped using jet injector flu immunizations upon the FDA’s recommendation, released Friday.
"The Kroger family of pharmacies and The Little Clinic locations will continue to administer seasonal influenza vaccinations through traditional flu shots," Kroger stated. "Kroger is seeking guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Food and Drug Administration regarding revaccinations."
Pharmajet Inc., a provider of needle-free injections, announced in late September that Kroger would offer its needleless injection system for flu vaccinations at more than 800 in-store pharmacies nationwide — including its Kroger, Fry’s and King Soopers banners — as well as at 79 Little Clinics. And in early September, Kroger subsidiary Fred Meyer Stores said it was offering customers needle-free flu vaccines using an injector system from Bioject Medical Technologies Inc.
The needleless injector technology delivers the vaccine via a narrow, high-velocity fluid jet that penetrates the skin and deposits the medication in the tissue beneath.
In its guidance, the FDA said that currently there are no influenza vaccines that it has approved for administration by jet injector. The agency noted that at this time it has approved only one vaccine — for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) — for administration by jet injector and that it has no data to support the safety or effectiveness of other vaccines delivered in that manner.
