At least 216 children have died of influenza in the US during the last flu season in what the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said was classified as the first high severity season overall and for all age groups since 2017-2018.
That number marks the highest pediatric death toll in 15 years; the previous high reported for a regular (non-pandemic) season was 236 pediatric deaths in the 2009-2010 season, according to the CDC. More recently, 207 pediatric deaths were reported during the 2023-2024 season.
Based on data from FluSurv-NET, the cumulative hospitalization rate for this season is the highest observed since the 2010-2011 season. It estimates that there have been at least 47m illnesses, 610,000 hospitalizations and 26,000 deaths from flu so far this season.
The high number of pediatric fatalities reported for the past flu season comes as health authorities in New York said that 25 children in the state had succumbed to influenza-associated pediatric deaths – the highest recorded amount ever in New York.
“As we begin to analyze the data from the 2024-2025 influenza season, we see this flu season was a challenging flu season for all, yet particularly for children,” said New York state’s health commissioner, Dr James McDonald.
The health commissioner warned that “misinformation around vaccines has in recent years contributed to a rise in vaccine hesitancy and declining vaccination rates”. Of the 25 pediatric deaths attributed to flu, only one involved a vaccinated child and five were below six-month age minimum to receive the flu vaccine.
“We live in a challenging time, where honest objective information is sometimes blurred by misinformation – therefore, it remains the department’s goal to continue to provide as much education and information as possible about flu and other vaccines that remain our best protection against many viruses and preventable diseases,” McDonald said.
“Vaccines are the best protection we have, and do save lives, including the lives of very young children who are too young to receive certain vaccines.”
The figures on pediatric deaths from influenza follow a winter of US hospitals reporting increases in pediatric flu cases, with many children experiencing severe complications such as pneumonia, dehydration and organ failure, according to the Washington Post.
Hospital admissions for flu in children ages five to 17 increased by 145%, from 959 on 4 January to 2,348 on 1 February, according to an analysis from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
At least 86 children had died of the flu as of 15 February, according to the CDC. The health agency estimated at the time that least 430,000 children and adults were hospitalized for flu between 1 October and 14 February.
Flu vaccination rates have been declining in recent years. The CDC reported in September that about 55.4% of US children between the ages of six months and 17 years old received at least one dose of the flu vaccine during the 2023-24 season, down from 57.4% in the 2022-23 season, and the 63.7% reported in the 2019-2020 season.
Health experts warned of a growing wave of vaccine hesitancy fueled in part by federal officials, including from Robert F Kennedy, the health and human services secretary. Soon after his Senate confirmation, Kennedy canceled a federal vaccine advisory committee meeting to help select next winter’s flu vaccine.
Last month, Anita Patel, a pediatric critical-care doctor at Children’s National hospital in Washington DC, told the Washington Post that this was the most severe flu season she has seen in more than a decade.
“Death is obviously the most severe outcome, but there is a huge spectrum between well and not well,” Patel told the Post. “The flu can take a previously healthy kid and land them on a ventilator.”
Last year, Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health warned that “misinformation about vaccines has proliferated on social media where it has led to rising levels of vaccine hesitancy at a faster rate than interventions are addressing it”.
Researchers at the school reviewed existing research on the links between social media misinformation and vaccination rates to draw up a plan to produce more effective countermeasures.
“Anti-vaccine misinformation is as old as vaccines themselves, but anti-vaccine campaigns have proliferated in recent years on social media – particularly since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic,” the study said.
It pointed to a convergence of mass media, political rhetoric and genuine safety concerns for growing vaccine hesitancy, and raised the idea of “prebunking” in which social media users are taught about how “fake news” works before exposure.
“Social media platforms are the epicenter of misinformation. They also need to be part of the solution,” said lead author Kai Ruggeri, a Mailman school professor of health policy and management.
“Misinformation is not new and its noxious consequences are not insurmountable, but its effect on vaccine hesitancy through social media is an urgent global threat to public health.”
