A flu vaccine is displayed at a pharmacy in New York, on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. Credit score: AP Picture/Mary Conlon, File
Extra U.S. kids have died this flu season than at any time because the swine flu pandemic 15 years in the past, based on a federal report launched Friday.
The 216 pediatric deaths reported by the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention eclipse the 207 reported final yr. It is essentially the most because the 2009-2010 H1N1 international flu pandemic.
It is a startlingly excessive quantity, on condition that the flu season continues to be happening. The ultimate pediatric dying tally for the 2023-2024 flu season wasn’t counted till autumn.
“This number that we have now is almost certainly an undercount, and one that — when the season is declared over, and they compile all the data — it’s almost certain to go up,” stated Dr. Sean O’Leary, of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
There are possible a number of contributors to this season’s severity, however an enormous one is that fewer kids are getting flu photographs, added O’Leary, a College of Colorado pediatric infectious ailments specialist.
The flu vaccination fee for U.S. kids has plummeted from about 64% 5 years in the past to 49% this season.
Flu vaccinations could not stop folks from coming down with signs, however analysis reveals they’re extremely efficient at stopping hospitalizations and deaths, O’Leary stated.
The season has not solely been exhausting on kids. CDC officers have described it as ” highly severe,” and estimate that to date there have been at the least 47 million diseases, 610,000 hospitalizations and 26,000 deaths this season.
CDC officers have details about underlying situations on almost 5,200 adults who had been hospitalized with flu this season, and 95% had at the least one current well being downside. However amongst 2,000 hospitalized kids with extra detailed well being data, solely about 53% had an underlying situation — together with bronchial asthma and weight problems.
The CDC report didn’t say how lots of the kids who died had been vaccinated. The company didn’t make an knowledgeable accessible to speak concerning the flu season.
The season has seen extra of a mixture of flu pressure circulating than in lots of different years, with two totally different Sort A strains — H1N1 and H3N2 — inflicting plenty of infections. However CDC knowledge launched earlier this yr recommended flu photographs had been doing a fairly good job at stopping deaths and hospitalizations.
The CDC continues to advocate that everybody ages 6 months and older get an annual flu vaccine.
Childhood vaccinations generally have been declining, pushed by on-line misinformation and the political schism that emerged round COVID-19 vaccines. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has additionally echoed a number of the rhetoric of antivaccine activists since taking on because the nation’s well being secretary.
However there could also be different causes fewer kids obtained flu photographs this yr, O’Leary stated.
Many pediatricians places of work are understaffed and will not be holding as many after-hours vaccination clinics as previously. Additionally, extra People are getting their vaccinations at pharmacies, however some drugstores do not vaccinate kids, he stated.
“My hope is that this season will be a bit of wake up call for folks that we actually do need to vaccinate our kids against influenza,” O’Leary stated.
© 2025 The Related Press. All rights reserved. This materials will not be revealed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed with out permission.
Quotation:
CDC studies 216 baby deaths this flu season, essentially the most in 15 years (2025, Might 2)
retrieved 2 Might 2025
from https://medicalxpress.com/information/2025-05-cdc-child-deaths-flu-season.html
This doc is topic to copyright. Aside from any honest dealing for the aim of personal examine or analysis, no
half could also be reproduced with out the written permission. The content material is supplied for data functions solely.
