Why Are a Record Number of Kids Dying from the Flu?

Except for the pandemic, this season has the most pediatric flu deaths since we started keeping track in 2004.

Can you guess why a record number of kids died from the flu this past season?

Sure, it was a bad flu season, but what else?

Why Are a Record Number of Kids Dying from the Flu?

During the 2024-25 flu season, at least 216 kids died from the flu.

That’s almost twice the average in a typical year and is more than any season, except for the 2009 swine flu pandemic season.

Pediatric flu deaths became a nationally notifiable disease in 2004, the year we got the formal recommendation that all healthy children aged 6–23 months get a flu shot.

If you are still wondering why, consider that the 2024-25 season is also when we saw another drop in the number of vaccinated kids.

Flu vaccination rates have been dropping in recent years.

While it was once routine that over 60% of kids got a flu vaccine each year, we are now down to fewer than half!

And yes, kids who die with flu are typically unvaccinated.

So it makes sense.

More unvaccinated kids is going to equal more kids dying with flu.

It should also make sense that we can easily reverse this trend if more parents vaccinated and protected their kids!

Get your kids a flu vaccine each and every year.

Flu vaccines are safe, with few risks, and they are effective and necessary.

References

Flu View Interactive INFLUENZA-ASSOCIATED PEDIATRIC MORTALITY https://gis.cdc.gov/GRASP/Fluview/PedFluDeath.html

Influenza Vaccination Coverage, Children 6 months through 17 years, United States https://www.cdc.gov/fluvaxview/dashboard/children-vaccination-coverage.html

CDC Reports About 90 Percent of Children Who Died From Flu This Season Not Vaccinated https://archive.cdc.gov/www_cdc_gov/flu/spotlights/2012-2013/children-flu-deaths.htm?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fflu%2Fspotlights%2Fchildren-flu-deaths.htm

Flu-Associated Pediatric Deaths: Findings from a Recent Study https://www.naccho.org/blog/articles/flu-associated-pediatric-deaths-findings-from-a-recent-study

Lewis NM, Zhu Y, Peltan ID, Gaglani M, McNeal T, Ghamande S, Steingrub JS, Shapiro NI, Duggal A, Bender WS, Taghizadeh L, Brown SM, Hager DN, Gong MN, Mohamed A, Exline MC, Khan A, Wilson JG, Qadir N, Chang SY, Ginde AA, Mohr NM, Mallow C, Lauring AS, Johnson NJ, Gibbs KW, Kwon JH, Columbus C, Gottlieb RL, Raver C, Vaughn IA, Ramesh M, Johnson C, Lamerato L, Safdar B, Casey JD, Rice TW, Halasa N, Chappell JD, Grijalva CG, Talbot HK, Baughman A, Womack KN, Swan SA, Harker E, Price A, DeCuir J, Surie D, Ellington S, Self WH; Investigating Respiratory Viruses in the Acutely Ill (IVY) Network. Vaccine Effectiveness Against Influenza A-Associated Hospitalization, Organ Failure, and Death: United States, 2022-2023. Clin Infect Dis. 2024 Apr 10;78(4):1056-1064. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciad677. PMID: 38051664; PMCID: PMC11487098.

Flannery B, Reynolds SB, Blanton L, Santibanez TA, O'Halloran A, Lu PJ, Chen J, Foppa IM, Gargiullo P, Bresee J, Singleton JA, Fry AM. Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness Against Pediatric Deaths: 2010-2014. Pediatrics. 2017 May;139(5):e20164244. doi: 10.1542/peds.2016-4244. Epub 2017 Apr 3. PMID: 28557757; PMCID: PMC5728382.

How vaccine hesitancy may be driving a spike in pediatric flu deaths https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-vaccine-hesitancy-may-be-driving-a-spike-in-pediatric-flu-deaths