Flu Season Starting Slow, But Experts Worry About A New Strain — And Vaccination Rates
HuffPost
Vaccination rates against COVID-19 continue to plummet, with about 6% of children and 14% of adults up to date on their shots, according to CDC data.
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. flu season is starting slowly, and it’s unclear if it will be as bad as last winter’s, but some health experts are worried as U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data posted Friday shows a new version of the virus has emerged.
An early analysis suggests current vaccines may still be somewhat effective against the new version of the flu, which has been the main driver of recent infections, CDC data shows.
Some scientists and medical professionals are more worried about disappointing vaccination rates, a main reason why flu hospitalizations and deaths were unusually bad during last year’s flu season — one of the deadliest this century.
“I think we’re going to see a really severe season,” said Asefeh Faraz Covelli of the George Washington University School of Nursing.
Last winter, the overall flu hospitalization rate was the highest seen since the H1N1 flu pandemic 15 years ago. Flu was the underlying or a contributing cause of more than 18,000 deaths, and one seven-day stretch early this year saw more than 1,800 deaths — the highest one-week spike in at least a decade. Child flu deaths also were far higher than usual.
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