The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday reported 16 more pediatric influenza-associated deaths for the week ending March 1, bringing the total to 114 in the 2024-’25 season. While flu activity remains elevated, it has decreased for three straight weeks.
The CDC’s weekly influenza surveillance report also noted no new human cases of avian influenza. Since the H5N1 outbreak began last year, 70 human cases of bird flu with one death have been reported in the U.S. There has been no human-to-human transmission, and the risk to the public remains low.
Flu-related hospital and outpatient visits, as well as positive flu tests reported to the CDC, decreased again for the week ending March 1. Despite those decreases, outpatient respiratory illness visits have been above the national baseline for 14 straight weeks.
Of the 16 new pediatric deaths, 15 were associated with influenza A viruses, with five A(H1N1) cases and four A(H3N2) cases found in subtyping. One death was associated with influenza B with no subtyping.
Latest vaccination data from the CDC show 45.8% of children have been immunized against the flu this season.
Though the 2024-’25 flu season is past its peak, the CDC expects several more weeks of flu activity and recommends everyone 6 months and older get a flu shot, which begins to protect against disease about two weeks after administration.
Typically, the makeup of the next season’s flu vaccine is discussed at an annual meeting of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. This year’s meeting was scheduled for March 13 but was canceled without explanation.
AAP President Susan J. Kressly, M.D., FAAP, called the cancellation “alarming” and noted that it occurred during “one of the worst flu seasons in years.”
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in a Feb. 28 press statement that it does not “anticipate any impact on vaccine supply or timing availability.”
“FDA continues to work with federal and international partners and U.S.-licensed influenza vaccine manufacturers to prepare for the upcoming season,” HHS said. “FDA, in consultation with our federal partners, will review the available data to make our recommendations to manufacturers of U.S.-licensed influenza vaccines in time for the production of updated vaccines for the 2025-2026 influenza season.”
The CDC recommends everyone get a flu shot by the end of October every year. Early vaccination in July or August is recommended for children who need two doses of the flu vaccine, since the second dose must be given four weeks later, and for expectant mothers in the third trimester of pregnancy whose infants would be too young for vaccination immediately after birth.
The CDC estimates there have been at least 40 million illnesses, 520,000 hospitalizations and 22,000 deaths from flu in the 2024-’25 season.
