“We have historically worked really hard to get transparency around all of these vaccine discussions,” said O’Leary, who said it’s important for the public to understand what goes into making decisions about the flu vaccine composition and other vaccine recommendations.
Still, it’s not too late to get vaccinated this year: “If you haven’t gotten your flu shot yet, get it because we’re still seeing high flu circulation in most of the country,” said Dr. Sean O’Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
There is some good news: The CDC also reported that this year's flu shots do a pretty good job preventing hospitalization from the flu — among the 45% of Americans who got vaccinated.
Earlier this month, state health departments and hospitals warned doctors to watch for child flu patients with seizures, hallucinations or other signs of “influenza-associated encephalopathy or encephalitis” -- and a more severe subtype called “acute necrotizing encephalopathy.” Encephalitis is brain inflammation.
In California, Dr. Keith Van Haren of Stanford Medicine Children's Health said earlier this month that he'd learned of about 15 flu-related cases of that severe subtype from doctors around the country and “we are aware or more cases that may also meet the criteria.” He did not say how many died.
