This season's flu is shaping up to be particularly hard on children, with an additional 14 kids dying this week, CDC says.
This year's flu shot isn't an exact match for the strain that's been circulating most widely, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't get it,"The influenza vaccine protects against various strains, three or four, depending on which vaccine you receive," said Dr. William Schaffner, medical director for the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.
Early 2019 to 2020 flu activity primarily was driven by influenza B/Victoria viruses, for which the vaccine is not a great match. Now, that flu activity is changing,"an increase in A/H1N1," Schaffner said. "It looks like we’re having a second wave," he added."The vaccine is exactly on target against this strain."In general, influenza B is more common in children, while influenza A, also called H1N1, is more commonly seen in older adults, according to Dr. Jessica Grayson, an assistant professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
So far, 14,000 people have died and 250,000 people have been hospitalized during the 2019-2020 flu season, according to preliminary estimates"The flu season began early this year and took off aggressively," added Schaffner."It began prominently in the southeastern states but quickly spread. So far, there is no sign that the momentum of the annual epidemic is slowing."In total, the CDC estimates that 26 million people have gotten the flu so far this season.
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