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1 revisions for "This Year's Flu Shots Were Among the Least Effective in a Decade — and a Surveillance Crisis May Make Next Year Worse"

Anonymous20 days ago

The CDC's interim estimates for the 2025-2026 flu season show vaccine effectiveness of just 22-34% among adults against outpatient illness — among the lowest rates in over a decade — driven by the emergence of H3N2 subclade K after vaccine strains had already been selected. With an estimated 27 million illnesses, 350,000 hospitalizations, and 22,000 deaths, the season also exposed deepening cracks in the global flu surveillance system, as CDC sample submissions dropped 60% amid federal funding cuts and the U.S. withdrawal from the WHO.