The US Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the first flu vaccine that does not have to be administered by a health care provider, but it won’t be available in time for this respiratory virus season.

The F.D.A. authorized AstraZeneca’s treatment to be given outside a health care setting, although it will still need a prescription.

FluMist is the only nasal flu vaccine, but it is not new. The FDA approved it in 2003 for people 5 to 49 years old before expanding eligibility in 2007 to children as young as 2 years old — requiring in both instances that it be administered by a vaccine provider.