105 U.S. Children Dead from Flu, CDC Recommends Children 6 Months and Older are Vaccinated (VIDEO)

Reports indicate that the flu came a month early this season, and approximately 105 children were killed, and according to the Centers for Disase Control and Prevention, it is possible that even more deaths will be reported.

Estimates show that roughly 100 children die each flu season, for the exception of the swine flu pandemic from 2009-2010, which killed approximately 348 children. 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.

All but four of the children who died were old enough to be vaccinated, but 90 percent of them did not get vaccinated, CDC officials said.

This year's vaccine was considered effective in children, though it didn't work very well in older people. And the dominant flu strain early in the season was one that tends to cause more severe illness, according to ABC News. 

The government only does a national flu death count for children. However, it does track hospitalization rates for people 65 and older, and those statistics have not been so good, showing that 177 out of every 100,000 were hospitalized with flu-related illness in the past several months. That's more than 2.5 times higher than any other recent season.

This flu season started in early December, a month earlier than usual, and peaked by the end of year, according to U.S. News & World Report. Since then, flu reports have been dropping off throughout the country.

"We appear to be getting close to the end of flu season," Jhung said. And of course, there's only one thing to add here--thank goodness. 

Want to learn more about the flu? Check out this video, courtesy of NPR.