Flu shots for people 50 and older now use mRNA instead of the older protein-based formula, and doctor Mary Bowden says buyers are not being told — bad news for anyone who assumed this year's shot was the same as last year's.

• Pharmacy and grocery-store booking sites do not flag the switch, so most people getting a flu shot will not know it is an mRNA product.
• Trial data showed more deaths and more side effects in the mRNA group than in the traditional shot, and it was never tested against a true placebo.
• Testing in children is underway this fall, with plans to extend the shot down to babies as young as six months.
• The plague scare out of Russia, followed within days by an Israeli mRNA plague vaccine announcement, looks like fear-selling timed to the election — plague is rare and treatable with antibiotics.
• Patient injuries from the COVID shots are still unresolved: of the 40,000-plus people one support group is helping, only a small fraction have fully recovered.

Outlook: Expect the mRNA flu shot to roll out quietly through pharmacies this season, with pressure building on the CDC to release cancer data it has not updated since 2023.