The Center for Disease Control (CDC) published their weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report for January 28 to February 3 and the statistics are not good. Here’s the breakdown:
The United States is not even halfway through the 2018 flu season and if the trends continue the way they are projected to, this could cause several problems and potentially elevate the already epidemic level rating. Last week, one out of every 10 people who died in the US died of flu or associated illness.
With 63 reported pediatric deaths so far, this season has already surpassed the number of deaths reported in 2015, which was the deadliest season in the past 5 years.
This news is leaving parents stunned as they are unsure what to do next. With Anti-Vaccination sentiment running rampant, parents are caught in a tough choice: to vaccinate or not. The CDC wants to emphasize that while the vaccine may not completely prevent influenza, it is proven to shorten the bout and reduce the severity of influenza, in comparison to someone who did not get a vaccine.
“We don’t know if we have hit the peak yet,” said Anne Schuchat, acting CDC director. “We could potentially see several more weeks of increased flu activity.” Most flu seasons, on average last 16 weeks, but we have entered into week 11 and there is no sign of numbers of hospitalizations and deaths decreasing any time soon as this season is breaking records for hospitalizations and is on track to infect about 34 million Americans this season.
This leads to further discussion among vaccine officials. This year’s vaccination covered only a few of the strains that surfaced this year, as companies had to speed up production time in order to mass produce the vaccine to insure it reached pharmacies and hospitals in time. Currently, officials are to reconfigure next year’s vaccine already, looking to produce it with different methods.
Long story short, get a flu shot, already.
HCXO,
Catherine