Yes, there will be a flu season this year, CDC says
Flu season may be getting under way, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
While influenza activity is very low in the United States, it's getting started and there's enough to indicate that there will be at least some kind of flu season this year, unlike last year, when an emphasis on frequent handwashing, mask use, closures of schools and businesses, and social distancing pretty much shut down transmission of the virus.
It's always impossible to predict what a flu season will look like, but Lynnette Brammer, lead of the CDC's Domestic Influenza Surveillance team, said reports of more flu cases have caught her team's attention and have her thinking flu season may have returned after its one-year break.
"Overall flu activity is still really low. It's starting to creep up just a little bit," Brammer told CNN.
"That gives us the idea that flu season may be starting."
The CDC estimates that, depending on the season, flu kills anywhere from 12,000 to 61,000 people a year in the United States. During the first week of November, 14% of deaths were attributable to influenza, pneumonia or Covid-19. Only 0.3% of specimens tested came back positive for influenza this past week, the CDC found, and just 295 people have been hospitalized for flu.
On Monday, the CDC confirmed it was helping state and local health officials in Michigan investigate an outbreak of more than 500 cases among students at the University of Michigan. That's the biggest single outbreak so far.
Brammer said what influenza cases there are seem to be among younger people ages 5 to 24.
"A lot of times, flu can happen first in younger age groups and then spread to the very young and the older age groups. It doesn't always happen that way," she said. "Every flu season is different."
Influenza is complicated because several different types and strains circulate. Right now, Brammer said, a strain known as H3N2, which has been around for decades, is what's infecting people. Flu vaccines also protect against a strain known as H1N1, which appeared and caused a mild pandemic in 2009, as well as two influenza B strains.
The CDC recommends that just about everybody six months and older should get a flu vaccine every year. That's because the virus mutates and the formulation often gets tweaked, but also because people's immunity wanes from year to year, even with vaccination.
Brammer said vaccine manufacturers are projecting they'll make 200 million doses of flu vaccine this year -- the biggest supply ever. That's not enough to cover the whole US population, but historically, only about half the people who should get vaccinated against flu actually do so.
"It was best to get vaccine in October. but a lot of people just didn't get around to it," Brammer said. "If you haven't been vaccinated yet, you better get around to it now."
Many Americans are also being advised to get booster doses of Covid-19 vaccines and it's safe and convenient to get them together, Brammer said. "This is the perfect time to go and get vaccinated if you haven't already done it," she said.
The CDC is worried because flu vaccination appears to have fallen behind schedule.
Flu vaccination rates for children are 6 percentage points lower this year than last year, with 34% of children having received their flu vaccine so far, compared to 40% this time a year ago. It's 10 points lower for Black children -- 24.9% compared to 35.3% last year.
Pregnant women, who are strongly advised to get flu shots both to protect themselves and their babies, are also falling behind. Only 41% of pregnant women are vaccinated so far, compared to 58% this time last year, the CDC says. And just 21.5% of Black pregnant women are vaccinated.
The CDC says, however, that overall more people say they plan to get vaccinated against influenza this year than last year. It says 58.5% of people surveyed say they plan to get a flu shot, compared to 54.8% who got one last year.
The CDC found that 70.6% of adults who are vaccinated against coronavirus or definitely plan to get a Covid-19 vaccine have received or intend to receive a flu vaccine for the 2021-22 season.
And just 11% of adults who say they probably or definitely will not get a coronavirus vaccine say they'll get a flu vaccine.
So far, the CDC says, 162.5 million doses of flu vaccine have been distributed. Vaccine manufacturers are continuing to make and distribute flu vaccine.
美国CDC 说今年会有流感季节
美国疾病控制和预防中心表示，流感季节可能正在到来。
虽然美国的流感活动非常低，但它才刚刚开始，足以表明今年至少会出现某种流感季节，不像去年那样强调频繁洗手、戴口罩、关闭学校和企业，以及社会疏远几乎阻止了病毒的传播。
总是无法预测流感季节会是什么样子，但 CDC 国内流感监测小组的负责人 Lynnette Brammer 表示，更多流感病例的报告引起了她的团队的注意，她认为流感季节可能会在第一次之后回归——年休。
“整体流感活动仍然很低。它开始一点点蔓延，”布拉默告诉美国有线电视新闻网。
“这让我们认为流感季节可能开始了。”
CDC 估计，根据季节的不同，流感每年在美国造成 12,000 至 61,000 人死亡。在 11 月的第一周，14% 的死亡可归因于流感、肺炎或 Covid-19。 CDC 发现，过去一周只有 0.3% 的样本检测出流感阳性，只有 295 人因流感住院。
周一，疾病预防控制中心证实，它正在帮助密歇根州和地方卫生官员调查密歇根大学学生中 500 多起病例的爆发。这是迄今为止最大的一次爆发。
布拉默说，5 至 24 岁的年轻人中似乎有哪些流感病例。
“很多时候，流感可能首先发生在年轻人群中，然后传播到非常年轻和年长的人群。这种情况并不总是如此，”她说。 “每个流感季节都不同。”
流感很复杂，因为有几种不同的类型和菌株在传播。现在，布拉默说，一种被称为 H3N2 的菌株已经存在了几十年，正在感染人们。流感疫苗还可以预防一种称为 H1N1 的毒株以及两种乙型流感毒株，该毒株在 2009 年出现并引起了轻微的大流行。
疾病预防控制中心建议大约每个六个月及以上的人每年都应该接种流感疫苗。这是因为病毒会发生变异，配方经常会发生变化，而且因为即使接种疫苗，人们的免疫力也会逐年减弱。
布拉默说，疫苗制造商预计他们今年将生产 2 亿剂流感疫苗——这是有史以来最大的供应量。这不足以覆盖整个美国人口，但从历史上看，应该接种流感疫苗的人中只有大约一半实际上这样做了。
“最好在 10 月份接种疫苗。但很多人只是没有考虑到它，”布拉默说。 “如果你还没有接种疫苗，你最好现在就去接种。”
布拉默说，还建议许多美国人接种加强剂量的 Covid-19 疫苗，将它们放在一起既安全又方便。 “如果你还没有接种疫苗，现在是去接种的最佳时机，”她说。
CDC 感到担忧，因为流感疫苗接种似乎落后于计划。
今年儿童流感疫苗接种率比去年低 6 个百分点，到目前为止，有 34% 的儿童接种了流感疫苗，而去年同期为 40%。黑人儿童的比例低 10 个百分点——24.9%，而去年为 35.3%。
强烈建议孕妇接种流感疫苗以保护自己和婴儿，但她们也落后了。 CDC 表示，到目前为止，只有 41% 的孕妇接种了疫苗，而去年同期为 58%。只有 21.5% 的黑人孕妇接种了疫苗。
然而，疾病预防控制中心表示，总体而言，今年计划接种流感疫苗的人数比去年多。它表示，58.5% 的受访者表示他们计划接种流感疫苗，而去年这一比例为 54.8%。
CDC 发现，在接种了冠状病毒疫苗或明确计划接种 Covid-19 疫苗的成年人中，有 70.6% 已经或打算接种 2021-22 季节的流感疫苗。
在表示他们可能或肯定不会接种冠状病毒疫苗的成年人中，只有 11% 表示他们会接种流感疫苗。
CDC 表示，到目前为止，已分发了 1.625 亿剂流感疫苗。疫苗制造商正在继续制造和分销流感疫苗。
