US mixed messaging on flu shots alarms experts: ‘Children should not be dying’ | Trump administration

As the United States hits record morbidity rates and hospitals struggle to care for flu patients, officials have stopped fully recommending the flu vaccine, casting doubt on the vaccine’s necessity and effectiveness.

“We are in the middle of a very serious flu season,” said Seema Lakdawala, associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Emory School of Medicine. Despite this, the United States is dismantling many of its vaccine recommendations. Flu vaccine recommendations for children were changed in early January to “shared clinical decision-making,” which generally means one provider recommends the vaccine.

Asked whether the new restrictions would lead to fewer children getting flu shots, “maybe that’s a better thing,” Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and a longtime vaccine critic, told CBS News last week. “There is no scientific evidence that the flu vaccine prevents serious illness, hospitalization or death in children,” Kennedy said, despite extensive studies, including those from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), demonstrating the effectiveness of the flu vaccine.

His comments come after Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, questioned the effectiveness of flu vaccines.

“Every year there’s a flu vaccine. It doesn’t always work very well. That’s why it’s been controversial lately,” Oz said on Newsmax. Instead, he recommended that Americans “take care” of themselves, so they can “beat” the flu when they encounter it.

Press releases from the CDC stated that “the decision to vaccinate is a personal decision,” urging people to consult their doctor to understand “the potential risks and benefits associated with vaccines.” Unlike in previous years, the CDC has not issued any health advisories regarding the new variant, top health officials have not publicly received vaccines, and a successful campaign called “Wild to Mild” was halted and not resumed.

The dominant flu strain in the United States is H3N2, which tends to cause more severe illness, and this particular variant, subclade K, has mutated to evade immune defenses, meaning more people may be susceptible to the flu than usual. The last time H3N2 spread in the United States, in 2017-2018, about 51,000 people died, making it the most severe flu season in recent years.

So far this year, there have been about 15 million illnesses, 180,000 hospitalizations and 7,400 deaths from the flu, the CDC estimated in its Jan. 9 weekly update — with deaths including at least 17 children. “There is still time to get your flu vaccine this season,” the CDC concludes in its report, relieved by public statements from health officials and new vaccine restrictions.

In a previous CDC report, about 8.2% of doctor visits were for flu-like respiratory illnesses — the highest rate at this point in the season since the 1997-98 season. That rate fell slightly to 7.2% last week, but the CDC warned that decline could be due to delays in reporting or seeking care due to the holidays. Some health systems are requiring providers to wear face masks amid rising cases. New York, for example, recorded its highest number of hospitalizations ever in the week ending December 27.

“The flu can be extremely, extremely serious. It can be really scary,” said Megan Berman, professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch and professor at the Sealy Institute for Vaccine Sciences.

Berman saw an influx of patients needing to be hospitalized, and “what they all had in common was that they actually hadn’t been vaccinated.” Even patients who already had influenza A would still benefit from vaccines, she said, because there was often a double peak during flu season with influenza B, which the vaccine also protects against.

Early data from the United Kingdom, where the flu season started early and now appears to be easing, shows the vaccine is still effective in preventing hospitalizations: 70 to 75 percent effective in children and 30 to 40 percent effective in adults, a rate similar to previous flu vaccines.

Even though the flu vaccine doesn’t stop transmission, it’s still very effective at preventing serious illness, Lakdawala said. But only 42.5% of children and 43.5% of adults received the vaccine this year, according to the CDC. Vaccination rates have fallen in recent years after peaking at 63.7% of children and 48.4% of adults in 2019-20, or more than half of the U.S. population.

Covid rates are also high and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is increasing, putting increased pressure on hospitals. These two childhood clichés have also been subject to recent restrictions.

Changes in recommendations will likely further dampen vaccination rates because they “give the message that it’s not important,” Berman said. Still, “nothing has changed from the science, and I know doctors still strongly recommend it for anyone six months and older…Children should not die from a preventable disease.” »

Antiviral treatments for influenza have also declined in recent years. About 79% of influenza patients hospitalized in 2022-23 received antivirals, compared to 90% in 2018-19. The decline was particularly pronounced among children; three in five children hospitalized with flu in 2022-23 received the drugs, compared to four in five in 2018-19. Only 28% of children under five who are flu enough to see a doctor are prescribed antiviral medications, and only 32% of children who seek treatment for the flu in emergency rooms receive the treatments, according to the CDC.

At the same time, infant mortality is rising, with nearly 300 children dying from the flu last season — the highest number of flu deaths outside of a pandemic since the CDC began tracking it.

If a patient is sick enough to see a doctor, they should receive antiviral medications, Berman said, as should patients with underlying medical conditions, pregnant people and the elderly. There are four antiviral medications for the flu, and they all work well against this variant. It is best to start them as soon as possible after a positive test.

There is also a risk, as H5N1 bird flu continues to devastate flocks across the United States, that two flu variants will mix to create another, more deadly variant, a process called reassortment.

“What worries me most about bird flu is that in five years it will have turned into something else,” Lakdawala said.

There are effective ways to control the spread of the flu, Lakdawala said, emphasizing that “we have every tool in our arsenal” and that “we should use them when someone is sick.” In addition to getting vaccinated and taking antiviral medications, people can wear masks, improve ventilation, wash their hands, cough and sneeze, and stay home when sick to control the flu.

“We’ve learned something really important about influenza transmission during the Covid-19 pandemic, which is that we can control it. We actually have the ability to control the burden of influenza,” Lakdawala said.

Berman stressed that “people are not helpless,” adding, “We can do something.”