About 28 million doses of flu vaccine, including the first nasal spray flu vaccine to be distributed in Korea, FluMist Intranasal Spray, will likely be approved for national distribution this year.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) said Thursday that around 28 million doses of flu vaccine -- seven Korean-made and seven imported products -- are expected to be approved for national distribution this year.

Also, unlike last year, when only the quadrivalent flu vaccine was supplied domestically, this year's supply will mainly consist of the trivalent flu vaccine (about 27 million doses).

"This is by the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO), considering that the type B (Yamagata) virus has not been detected in flu patients since March 2020," the ministry explained.

Accordingly, the flu vaccine was selected to include two types of influenza A (H1N1, H3N2) and one type B (Victoria) and exclude type B (Yamagata), which had been included until last year.

To ensure that flu vaccines are shipped smoothly in the second half of this year and that people are immunized on time, MFDS held a briefing session on national shipment approval for flu vaccine manufacturers and importers on Friday. The session provided information on how to write a summary of manufacturing and quality control and the plan for supply, procurement, and purchase of flu vaccine for the 2025 national immunization.

"We expect the briefing session to help people receive the flu vaccine smoothly during the recommended vaccination period (October-November), and we will continue to do our best to manage quality so that people can use the vaccine with peace of mind," the ministry said.