Family searches for answers after daughter, 8, dies from flu


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PARK CITY — It was the answer they had been searching for. But for parents Mark and Michelle Coyne, it brought confusion instead of clarity.

Their daughter Mackenzie had just celebrated her eighth birthday when she woke up one Sunday morning in February with stomach pains. The Coynes thought she had a mild stomach bug. Then Mackenzie's fingers and toes started turning blue.

By 4 p.m. that afternoon, Mackenzie had passed away.

The medical examiner determined her cause of death to be the H1N1 influenza virus, the Coynes said.

"Flu never even crossed my mind," said Michelle Coyne, because Mackenzie had received the FluMist vaccine. "We were told that it was the most effective treatment because it contained the live virus. There was nothing else that said anything different. Our doctors didn't tell us anything different. Nobody really did."

The Coynes are shocked by the announcement last week that health officials are retracting their endorsement of FluMist due to studies showing the nasal spray has been ineffective for three straight years.

According to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, FluMist has an expected effectiveness of 3 percent against influenza in children — meaning it offers virtually no protection.

The traditional flu shot has a 63 percent expected effectiveness.

It's a stunning reversal from two years ago when CDC officials were advising doctors that the spray worked better than the flu shot.

"I think it was a surprise to everybody,” said Utah Department of Health immunization manager Rich Lakin, noting that the department ordered more than 1,200 doses of FluMist for this upcoming season that they are now trying to return. “But it's better to know than not know, and that's why CDC does these studies."

It is still unclear why the vaccine stopped working after years of studies showing it worked as well as — if not better than — the flu shot.

FluMist first performed poorly in the 2013-14 flu season, which coincided with the return of H1N1, CDC epidemiologist Brendan Flannery told the New York Times. The next year, none of the flu vaccines worked well, so it was hard for epidemiologists to detect any difference in effectiveness between the two vaccines, he said.

The manufacturer of FluMist also added another strain of flu to the vaccine that year, which experts say could have changed its effectiveness.

The Coynes thought their daughter had a mild stomach flu. A few hours later, she had passed away. The medical examiner determined her cause of death to be the H1N1 influenza virus. (KSL TV)
The Coynes thought their daughter had a mild stomach flu. A few hours later, she had passed away. The medical examiner determined her cause of death to be the H1N1 influenza virus. (KSL TV)

It wasn't until this past winter, when H1N1 again became prevalent, that it became clear that FluMist was ineffective, according to Flannery.

It is almost impossible to tell how well the FluMist worked in Utah.

Salt Lake County is the only county that collects data on which types of vaccine people received, and only then for pediatric hospitalizations.

Of the 63 children under the age of 9 who were hospitalized for influenza in the county, 19 were vaccinated, according to the county health department. Of those, 16 received the flu shot, two received FluMist and one received both.

Lakin said the health department is continuing to urge people to get the flu shot, and the Coynes say they continue to support immunizations.

But the parents said providers should have been notified years ago that the CDC had concerns about FluMist.

There is no way of knowing would have happened if Mackenzie had gotten the flu shot instead of the spray. But had he and his wife been armed with that knowledge, Mark Coyne said they may have made a different decision.

"When I saw the interview with that CDC official and he said that we've known for two years that the FluMist is ineffective, my jaw dropped," he said. "How could he have known at the CDC that the FluMist was ineffective and how could our health care providers not have known?"

The announcement about FluMist supplies some potential explanations for Mackenzie's death but provides little comfort, the Coynes say. Grief has morphed into anger.

"For me, it doesn't make things better, it doesn't change the outcome we are faced with the rest of our lives that our family is without our 8-year-old," said Michelle Coyne, her voice breaking. "We didn't sign up to be part of a medical trial."

The Coynes, who also have a 10-year-old daughter and a 5-year-old son, said they aren't quite sure how to move on. Mackenzie was a healthy and active child who loved animals and went out of her way to befriend kids who got picked on or bullied, they said.

"She loved skiing, she loved hiking, she loved riding her bike in the hills," Mark Coyne said. "There was so much for her to explore here. And it's really hard for us now even to enjoy these things, because they're for our family. And now we're missing a part.

"I don't think we really know what to do, quite frankly," he added. "We're just searching out what our path is through this."

Contributing: Jed Boal and Ashley Moser****

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