Your Questions About Tamiflu, Answered

With flu season in full swing, many people are on the hunt for antiviral medications that can help them get rid of their fatigue, fever, coughing, and other flu-like symptoms. But how can you access medications such as Tamiflu, and are they right for you?

The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that influenza is having its most significant impact in years. So far, at least 24 million people have had the flu in the U.S. this season, and of those, 13,000 have died from the infection.

“It’s one of our more severe flu seasons. The incidence of flu we’re seeing is very high, and the disease that we’re seeing seems to be a little bit more severe from previous seasons,” Geeta Sood, MD, ScM, assistant professor of medicine and hospital epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, told Health.

If you do catch the flu, taking Tamiflu—the brand name for oseltamivir—can reduce the severity of your infection and shorten the duration of your illness by about a day. However, it’s not recommended for every flu case.

Here’s what you need to know about Tamiflu, including who should take the medication, how to access it, and which other flu treatments are out there.

Tamiflu is one of four antiviral medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of influenza.

Antivirals work by preventing a virus from replicating in the body, Sood explained. “That helps your body fight off the infection better and faster,” she said.

Tamiflu is the most common antiviral used for influenza in the U.S., mostly because it was the first drug to be approved, said James Antoon, MD, PhD, assistant professor of pediatric hospital medicine at the Vanderbilt University Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital.

“A lot of safety and efficacy studies have been done on it, and it’s the one a lot of physicians feel comfortable prescribing because we have so much data on it,” Antoon told Health.

It’s also widely available at pharmacies and covered by nearly 70% of insurers, according to GoodRx. Though the actual brand name medication retails for upwards of $150, the generic oseltamivir retails for about a third of the price, and additional coupons can help reduce this out-of-pocket cost further.

“In my experience, it is more affordable than some of the other medications for influenza,” Katie Lockwood, MD, attending primary care physician at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told Health.

The drug can be taken as a liquid or in capsules. People over the age of 12 with the flu should take the medication twice daily for five days. To prevent the flu, people should take one dose of the medication daily for up to 10 days or as long as it’s prescribed.

Tamiflu is approved to treat both influenza A and B in people as young as 14 days old, but the medication is typically only recommended for those who are more likely to have a severe case of the flu, Sood explained.

That includes people with compromised immune systems, lung disease, or who are taking certain medications that reduce their ability to fight infections, Sood said. Pregnant people, young kids or children with health conditions, and people with asthma, diabetes, or heart disease should also consider taking an antiviral if they catch the flu, according to the CDC.

However, for healthier people who have a lower risk of severe complications from the virus, taking Tamiflu may not be necessary.

“Just having one day less of symptoms for the average person may not be worth the cost and the effort to try to get Tamiflu,” said Sood.

Still, if your symptoms are not improving quickly, or if you’re experiencing shortness of breath, your physician may recommend Tamiflu, she added.

In order to take Tamiflu, you need a prescription from a healthcare provider. Many physicians will ask to see a positive flu test before prescribing the drug, but that’s not always necessary.

“A positive test is not required—if someone calls with symptoms of flu during peak flu season (like now), we can offer treatment without getting a test,” Paul Sax, MD, clinical director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told Health.

In the future, people may not need a prescription for Tamiflu, Antoon added. But currently, people do need to meet with a doctor to access the medication.

Before going through the trouble of setting up an appointment with a healthcare provider, you may want to take a flu test first, whether that’s at your local pharmacy or an at-home kit, Antoon said. It’s best to do this as soon as your symptoms start so that you can be sure that you don’t have another illness, such as COVID-19.

After starting Tamiflu, patients will typically see improvements in their symptoms within a day, said Lockwood. But for best results, people should start taking the drug within 48 hours of when their symptoms first start.

“The sooner, the better,” Sood added.

But even if the 48-hour window has passed, Tamiflu may still be beneficial, Sood said, especially for those with underlying conditions. It can also help prevent the spread of flu, which is significant.

“Where some people nitpick these antivirals is that a day of symptoms isn’t that significant,” Antoon said. “But it can add up with [the reduced] risk of transmission.”

Tamiflu is safe to take with other medications, and there are no known drug interactions, Antoon said. However, it can cause some side effects.

In some people, Tamiflu can cause vomiting, nausea, and headache on top of what you’re already experiencing because of the flu, Antoon said. But taking the medication with food may reduce the risk of these side effects, per the FDA.

The agency also said patients on Tamiflu may experience stomach pain, nosebleeds, headache, and fatigue, though these side effects are less common.

In addition to Tamiflu, there are three other antivirals approved to treat the flu in the U.S.: Relenza (zanamivir), Rapivab (peramivir), and Xofluza (baloxavir marboxil).

When it comes to efficacy, “they all work about the same for influenza,” Antoon said. “We have good head-to-head studies on these antivirals. They all have around the same reduction in duration of symptoms.”

There are slight differences between them, though.

Relenza may be better at reducing flu transmission, explained Antoon. However, it’s administered via an inhaler, so it may not be a good choice for people with breathing issues. Xofluza may be the most convenient choice since it’s just one dose. But more research needs to be done on how the medication works in certain groups, such as pregnant people or those hospitalized for flu. And Rapivab is an intravenous (IV) medication, so it has to be administered by a healthcare provider.