Health & Medicine
CDC: 90 percent of 105 Flu Related Death Victims Were not Vaccinated
SWR Staff Writer
First Posted: Mar 22, 2013 11:33 PM EDT
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is encouraging parents to get their children vaccinated by reporting that 105 children died from the flu and about 90 percent of those did not get vaccinated.
The number is almost three times the amount that died during the previous flu season. Flu seasons vary greatly in severity. In the 2003-2004 season, 153 children died, according to CDC numbers.
Michael Jhung, an officer in CDC's Influenza Division, said more deaths this season are still possible. "Flu season is winding down but it's not over," he said according to the USA Today.
The CDC recommends that all children ages 6 months and older be vaccinated against flu each season, though only about half get a flu shot or nasal spray. Overall, 52 percent of all American kids got flu shots this year.
"The really telling proportion is the flip side of that: 40 percent of these deaths were in kids who were healthy," Jhung said.
The government only counts flu deaths in children and hospitalization rates for people 65 and older. One hundred seventy seven patients out of every 100,000 hospitalized for flu-related illnesses were in that age group, 2.5 times higher than recent seasons, the Associated Press reported.
"Here we are in the 21st century, and this ancient scourge visits us every year and can still have such a profound effect on our children," William Schaffner, a professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, told USA Today.
Schaffner said these deaths remind the public that the flu isn't just a throat and chest problem and can involve the whole body. He explained that the vaccine makes it highly less likely that children will need to see the doctor for the flu.
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First Posted: Mar 22, 2013 11:33 PM EDT
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is encouraging parents to get their children vaccinated by reporting that 105 children died from the flu and about 90 percent of those did not get vaccinated.
The number is almost three times the amount that died during the previous flu season. Flu seasons vary greatly in severity. In the 2003-2004 season, 153 children died, according to CDC numbers.
Michael Jhung, an officer in CDC's Influenza Division, said more deaths this season are still possible. "Flu season is winding down but it's not over," he said according to the USA Today.
The CDC recommends that all children ages 6 months and older be vaccinated against flu each season, though only about half get a flu shot or nasal spray. Overall, 52 percent of all American kids got flu shots this year.
"The really telling proportion is the flip side of that: 40 percent of these deaths were in kids who were healthy," Jhung said.
The government only counts flu deaths in children and hospitalization rates for people 65 and older. One hundred seventy seven patients out of every 100,000 hospitalized for flu-related illnesses were in that age group, 2.5 times higher than recent seasons, the Associated Press reported.
"Here we are in the 21st century, and this ancient scourge visits us every year and can still have such a profound effect on our children," William Schaffner, a professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, told USA Today.
Schaffner said these deaths remind the public that the flu isn't just a throat and chest problem and can involve the whole body. He explained that the vaccine makes it highly less likely that children will need to see the doctor for the flu.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone