The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], confirms the first pediatric flu deaths of the 2023-24 season in the United States. The CDC urges people not to delay getting their vaccinations. But the agency reports that by mid-October fewer than 23% of adults and just under 21% of children had received their flu shot.
Peak flu season typically begins in December and ends in February. The CDC recommends that everyone six months and older - with very rare exceptions - gets a flu vaccine every season.
The acting director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease is Dr. Demetre Daskalakis. He recalls the last flu season [2022-23], which became the most severe we’ve had since the start of the covid-19 pandemic. “It started earlier than usual. So, when we think about the flu, it usually peaks in February. But last year, we actually had a surge in October. And we peaked in early December. And that really resulted in flu hospitalization rates that were the highest that we've seen in at least a decade.”
Dr. Daskalakis Says it's important to remember that even healthy children can get sick from flu. When you look back at last season, there were 174 pediatric deaths from the flu reported to the CDC. Eighty percent of those children were not vaccinated against the flu.
For more information visit: American Medical Association/AMA Update. Https://youtu.be/tyqi6vsf1fq?Si=TH_snotljubeb26d
