Brown University research finds additional benefits to getting vaccinated for shingles

Shingles vaccine linked to 24% lower dementia risk

Brown University

Older adults who received the Shingrix shingles vaccine were 24% less likely to be diagnosed with dementia over four years in a study of more than 500,000 people. 

Researchers estimate the difference could amount to roughly one dementia case prevented for every 17 people vaccinated.

The analysis drew on Medicare data and health records from more than 500,000 adults age 66 and older who were admitted to skilled nursing facilities for either short-term or long-term care. Researchers compared patients who received at least one dose of the recombinant shingles vaccine, known as RZV or Shingrix, with patients who remained unvaccinated. Shingrix was introduced in 2017 and is currently the only shingles vaccine available on the market.

Studies provide more evidence that HPV vaccines benefit men

It works. It's safe. It stops cancer

Liz Szabo, MA

Three new studies add to a growing body of research showing that men and boys vaccinated against the human papillomavirus (HPV) are much less likely than others to be infected with the ubiquitous virus, which can cause cancers of the head and neck, anus, and penis, as well as genital warts.

• A randomized trial from Japan, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases earlier this month, found that Gardasil 9—which protects against nine HPV strains—dramatically reduced the risk of developing anal or genital HPV infections. The vaccine prevented 92% of persistent infections with the most common strains of HPV and 73% caused by strains that are less common but still able to cause cancer. The researchers followed more than 1,000 men for a median of 2.4 years.
• A real-world study from Canada, published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases yesterday, focused on gay and bisexual men ages 16 to 23. The study of nearly 1,200 men confirmed that HPV vaccination is most effective when given at a young age, before people are exposed to the virus. Men vaccinated by age 23 were 60% less likely to have anal HPV infections than others in the study. The researchers found no reduction in HPV risk among men vaccinated at age 27 or older.
• A review of 21 studies performed from 2007 to 2024, published in The International Journal of Infectious Diseases last week, found that HPV vaccinations prevent anal, penile, and oral infections in men. Studies included Gardail 9, as well as an earlier vaccine that prevented four HPV strains. While results varied from study to study, researchers from University of Florida and Merck Research Laboratories found that evidence suggests that vaccines provide good protection, ranging from a 51% reduction in the risk of penile HPV infections to a 100% reduction in the risk of oral HPV infections. Merck is the manufacturer of Gardasil 9.

“It’s exciting,” Neil Gross, MD, director of clinical research in the department of head and neck surgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center, told CIDRAP News when asked about the new findings.

“We’ve known vaccination is the right thing to do,” said Gross, who was not involved in the studies. “That’s why HPV is recommended as a gender-neutral vaccination strategy. It’s nice to see some data quantifying the benefit.”

Good news for men and public health

HPV affects about 80% of sexually active women and more than 90% of men. A small number of people develop persistent HPV infections, which can lead to cancer. HPV spreads through intimate contact, including vaginal, anal, and oral sex, and even deep kissing. 

Survey data reveal demographic divides in Americans’ COVID vaccine hesitancy

Too stupid to live

Laine Bergeson

Vaccine hesitancy in the United States predated the COVID-19 pandemic, but the pandemic added fuel to the fire. During the crisis, inconsistent public health messaging and emergency-use authorization of the COVID vaccine gave rise to a “parallel pandemic of vaccine hesitancy,” write researchers from Rush University College of Nursing in a new analysis published in Vaccine. That hesitancy led to many people being unnecessarily infected and hospitalized. 

“Some research has estimated nearly a quarter of a million preventable deaths due to non-vaccination in the US, during the period May 2021-Sept 2022,” they write. Average life expectancy in the United States decreased by almost two years because of COVID.

To better understand what drives Americans’ vaccine hesitancy, the researchers analyzed surveys from nearly 14,000 people. Their findings suggest that vaccination rates differed significantly by education level and age, and reasons for remaining unvaccinated differed by race and education level. 

Kennedy’s Quiet Hunt for Autism Culprits Stalls as Trump Orders Baseless Changes to Childhood Shots

Endangering children's lives based on quack science

By Amanda Seitz and Stephanie Armour

Donald Trump has ordered a reduction in childhood vaccines — publicly faulting the shots for an increase in autism cases — even as the nation’s top health official, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has failed to produce evidence linking vaccinations to the disorder.

While the executive order released Aug. 10 does not directly mention autism, Trump’s demand to limit vaccine recommendations has puzzled leading medical groups, doctors, and political analysts alike. The directive landed less than 90 days before midterm elections, which Trump’s own pollsters have warned could be jeopardized by anti-vaccine rhetoric.

“The political timing, particularly for members on the Republican side in swing districts, is not good,” said Larry Bucshon, a former Republican congressman and retired doctor.

Trump’s willingness to gamble on the issue underscores the president’s impatience for his health secretary to deliver on a promise that he’d pinpoint a culprit for the sharp rise in autism diagnoses.

After more than a year, Kennedy and his close, anti-vaccine allies have blown past a deadline to turn up definitive answers in a multimillion-dollar research mission shrouded in secrecy, leaving the president to recycle debunked notions as he publicly assaults vaccines.

“This is about the most closed project that I’ve ever heard of,” Helen Tager-Flusberg, a renowned psychologist who runs the Coalition of Autism Scientists, said of Kennedy’s autism research efforts. “They’re treating it like the Manhattan Project in the 1940s. This is as opaque as it could possibly be.”

The White House did not answer questions about what research is informing the president’s opinions or which vaccines he believes could be linked to autism.

The Department of Health and Human Services said the president’s action builds on the agency’s January announcement that it was reassessing the nation’s vaccine schedule and recommended reducing childhood immunizations based on peer countries’ guidance. However, no other peer country separates the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine as the president has now ordered.

“As the secretary said, HHS will examine every biologically plausible hypothesis, follow the evidence wherever it leads, and make findings and actions available as they are ready,” HHS spokesperson Emily Hilliard said in an email.

New mRNA Flu Vaccine Makes This Flu Season ‘One to Watch’

The FDA’s approval of an mRNA flu shot presents a new, long-awaited option

By Annalies Winny

An mRNA flu vaccine is on its way.

On August 5, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Moderna's mFlusiva, the first influenza vaccine to use mRNA technology, for adults 50 and older.

The approval gives many older Americans a long-awaited new option for protection. Tens of thousands of Americans typically die from the flu every year, and the vast majority of them are 65 and older. 

It’s long been a public health priority to evolve flu vaccine technology—a process which currently takes more than six months to produce a shot and is prone to mismatches with the circulating strains—so that manufacturers can respond more quickly to the evolving virus, ultimately making flu shots more effective.

When it comes to those goals, Moderna’s mRNA shot is “very, very promising,” says Anna Durbin, MD, a professor in International Health and director of the Center for Immunization Research.

“Most vaccinologists believe that mRNA vaccines are the future,” says Durbin, who sits on the FDA panel that recommended the vaccine. Regulators in the EU, Canada, and Australia are also reviewing the vaccine, and the European Medicine Agency has separately authorized a combined mRNA COVID-flu vaccine, also by Moderna.

For now, Durbin says, the FDA approval provides a welcome new option for older Americans—but the price, demand, and availability of the shot, and what it means for existing vaccines, remain open questions.

Forget Bobby Jr.

Here are the recommendations from REAL experts for vaccines

Meghan Holohan

Fall brings many new changes, including a new school year and a surge of respiratory illnesses. With little direction from the federal government, many people are confused about whether they need a flu, COVID-19, or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine.

To fill the information void, the Vaccine Integrity Project (VIP) at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP, publisher of CIDRAP News), and the American Medical Association (AMA) published the results of their independent evidence review of the influenza, COVID-19, and RSV vaccines today in JAMA. 

Filling in gaps left by federal vaccine-process breakdown

“We are living in unprecedented times when it comes to modern vaccine review and recommendation,” said Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, CIDRAP director and coauthor of an accompanying commentary. “The VIP program will never replace ACIP [Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices]. In the interim, it’s the stopgap measure that allows us to continue recommending these vaccines based on a comprehensive review of both effectiveness and safety.” 

During a press briefing yesterday on the evidence reviews, four of the country’s major medical organizations—the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA)— provided their vaccine recommendations for the 2026-27 respiratory illness season.

“We cannot allow the breakdown of a federal process to create a vacuum in evidence-based vaccine guidance,” Bruce Gellin, MD, MPH, chair of the VIP Board of Advisors, said during the briefing. 

COVID Infections Are Surging Again

Vaccines and prudent action still the best response

By Nick Landekic, contributing writer, RINewsToday

Yes, COVID is still a thing. As expected, we are experiencing the now predictable summer wave, the 13^th surge since the start of the pandemic. Right now it’s estimated 3.4 million people are becoming infected every week and 800 to 1,500 are dying of COVID every week, and infections are climbing fast. The National Wastewater Scan shows high and growing levels of COVID in every participating state.

What’s been happening with COVID?

COVID has fallen into a now more-or-less predictable pattern of surging twice a year, in the summer and winter.

Bobby Kennedy Jr. says polio vaccine killed more people than polio itself

Our Secretary of Health and Human Services is totally wrong

National Library of Medicine on the 1955 "Cutter Incident" led to the only spate of deaths - 10 in total - attributed the first polio vaccine, caused by improper manufacture:

In the end, at least 220 000 people were infected with live polio virus in Cutter's vaccine (including 100 000 contacts of immunized children), 70 000 developed muscle weakness, 164 were severely paralyzed, and 10 died.

World Health Organization:

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, frequent epidemics saw polio become the most feared disease in the world. A major outbreak in New York City in 1916 killed over 2000 people, and the worst recorded US outbreak in 1952 killed over 3000.

Many who survived the disease faced lifelong consequences. Deformed limbs meant they needed leg braces, crutches or wheelchairs, and some needed to use breathing devices like the iron lung, an artificial respirator invented for treatment of polio patients.

Until the vaccines became widespread and mandatory, annual polio deaths averaged arund 2,000.  

Study ties COVID vaccine conspiracy theories to distrust of government, mainstream media

If you've been wondering "What's wrong with these people?"

Meghan Holohan

As soon as the COVID-19 vaccine rollout began early in the pandemic, conspiracy theories about them started swirling. Some people claimed that the vaccines contained microchips, while others were suspicious about the intentions of the government or pharmaceutical companies. 

Researchers surveyed people in Japan about their beliefs in COVID-19 conspiracy theories to understand who adheres to such ideas. The findings were published last week in Scientific Reports.

“When people think about conspiracy beliefs, attention often focuses on highly extreme claims,” lead author Hitoshi Yamamoto, PhD, of Rissho University in Tokyo, said in a university press release. “However, our findings suggest that more common forms of conspiracy-related thinking are associated with the persistent distrust of social institutions and the mainstream media.” 

The threat of more, expanded measles outbreaks looms with start of school

With measles on the rise, school gets riskier

Sarah Boden

Map showing where the most measles cases have been reported in the United States in 2026. 
 Credit: CDC

School starts soon in north-central Colorado and pediatrician Shen Nagel, MD, is bracing for the possibility of a measles outbreak. 

In some ways this is par for the course. After major holidays and summer breaks, kids bring viruses back to their classrooms, and Nagel sees spikes of flu, respiratory syncytial virus and other respiratory illnesses, among his patients at Pediatrics West, a practice in suburban Denver.

Measles might soon be added to that list, though it wasn't a disease that pediatricians worried about much when Nagel started practicing 25 years ago. But post-COVID-19, dropping vaccination rates and conflicting federal messaging have created an opening for measles, widely considered the most contagious infectious disease known to humans. 

The good news is that most parents do get their kids the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, which is 97% effective after two doses. Experts who spoke to CIDRAP News for this story say that if a fully vaccinated child has a normal immune system, parents shouldn't worry about their child catching measles at school—especially if that school has a relatively high vaccination rate. Outbreaks are extremely unlikely in communities where overall MMR coverage is 95%.

Will flu, COVID-19 vaccines be available this fall?

What road blocks will Bobby Jr. and Trump throw up?

Meghan Holohan

As fall nears and the respiratory illness season begins, many people are wondering if they’ll be able to receive updated flu and COVID-19 vaccines amid the turmoil created by the federal government about vaccines. Some worry that recent changes could mean they have to pay out of pocket for their annual doses. 

But experts say Americans don’t have to worry about vaccine coverage—this year, at least. 

“There will be available an updated influenza vaccine and an updated COVID vaccine. So far, that’s pretty normal,” William Schaffner, MD, professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt Health and spokesperson for the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), told CIDRAP News. “Insurers, that is, the medical insurance industry, have said that they would cover those vaccines.” 

Breaking science news

Trump and Bobby Jr. continue relentless attack on life-saving vaccines.

Trump signs executive order to break up measles, mumps, rubella vaccine

Sarah Boden and Chris Dall, MA

Donald Trump is calling to "break up" the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, which would require more visits and shots, instead of using a two-dose regimen to deliver the three immunizations. 

Separating out the MMR vaccine is among the recommendations in an executive order signed by the president today that urges all childhood vaccines be administered at separate visits.

“For example, at one year, you should have five separate visits for vaccines rather than getting them all in the same day," President Trump said at the signing.

There are no data to show that spacing out the MMR immunizations—or other childhood immunizations—is beneficial, but doing so could increase the risk of infection or lead to kids missing doses. And it adds to vaccination costs.

Also, breaking up the MMR vaccine could be difficult, at least in the short term, as this would require buy-in from pharmaceutical manufacturers to make three separate vaccines. And the proposed three separate vaccines are not currently licensed in the United States nor approved by the Food and Drug Administration, which would take some time.

‘None of this is reality-based’

The executive order makes no mention of autism. Yet, at today's signing, Trump and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. repeated a long-debunked falsehood that vaccinations are possibly associated with the neurodevelopmental condition. There is no link.

The executive order will do nothing to support families of children with autism or advance understanding of it, said a statement from Andrew D. Racine, MD, PhD, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).*

Racine added that pediatricians recommend that children receive certain vaccines at specific ages based on when children's immune systems will respond best and when they are most vulnerable to certain diseases. 

Pediatricians and Health Departments (including Rhode Island) Sidestep Trump’s CDC on Vaccine Guidance

Rational response to the breach of trust

By Karen Brown, New England Public Media

His brainworm ate his memory

For the last 30 years, whenever pediatrician John Snyder wanted to find the most up-to-date research on treating young patients, he would turn to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

If he wanted to learn more about an outbreak of measles or hantavirus, he would pore over the weekly CDC report that came by email. If a patient’s family was traveling to Africa or Asia, he would check the latest CDC vaccine recommendations for overseas travel. 

And if a family was worried about potential side effects from a shot, he could always send them to the CDC’s website to bolster his argument to get the immunization.

Public trust in the CDC has hit bumps in the road during infectious disease outbreaks, but for medical professionals, Snyder said, “the CDC used to be, worldwide, the most trusted source of information pertaining to public health and infectious disease.”

Yet even doctors began losing trust, Snyder said, after Donald Trump was elected president again. Trump quickly tapped longtime anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC.

Within months of his confirmation as secretary, Kennedy had dismissed every member of the CDC’s vaccine advisory board and replaced them with new appointees, some of them prominent vaccine skeptics.

“It turned into a completely unreputable source of information,” Snyder said.

This rupture of scientific trust in the CDC has put many pediatricians like Snyder in a bind, as they no longer turn to the country’s preeminent public health agency and instead search for ways to fill the information gap. Some doctors are launching their own vaccine education efforts, sometimes in collaboration with local public health departments.

On Jan. 5, the CDC removed some vaccines from the recommended vaccine schedule for all children — against the advice of major medical groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics. The number of recommended vaccines shrank as the agency dropped rotavirus, covid-19, influenza, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and meningococcal disease from the list. The agency did not respond to a request for comment for this article.

COVID is still here. Is the pandemic?

Getting vaccinated is still the smartest thing

Laine Bergeson

It’s been three years since the World Health Organization declared an end to the COVID-19 public health emergency, but COVID still circulates worldwide. Does that mean the pandemic is still going on, just in a non-emergency phase? Or has COVID become an endemic virus, like the flu?

CIDRAP News talked with Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) Director Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, to understand what defines a pandemic, if we’re still in one, and what gives a pathogen pandemic potential.

CIDRAP News: What exactly is a pandemic? 

Michael Osterholm: There’s no magic answer to that question. From my perspective, I usually say the only examples we have in modern history are viral infections that are transmitted via the respiratory route, like the flu and COVID, because the dynamics of transmission make it a worldwide threat, and “worldwide threat” is important in defining a pandemic. A pandemic is not just something that happens in one localized area.

Plagues weren’t viruses, but, in the modern world, a pandemic is almost always a viral infection.

CIDRAP News: Why? 

Michael Osterholm: Antibiotics could be an important part of why bacterial viruses aren't as big of a threat today. But what’s really at the heart of it is what flu and COVID represent today in terms of risk—that is, slight changes in the virus result in increased susceptibility. And when there's a major change in the virus, you virtually have no protection.

“A pandemic is almost always a viral infection.”

For a good example, look at influenza. Each flu pandemic was caused when there was a major shift in the genetics of the virus, so virtually no one was immune. If you look at COVID, it was very much the same thing. 

CIDRAP News: Why were SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) not pandemics? 

Michael Osterholm: Because they are not readily transmitted. We were able to bring them under control, basically with standard control measures that you would use for respiratory illness. And that's good news because the case-fatality rate for SARS and MERS is between 15% and 35%. For COVID, the case-fatality rate was 1% to 1.5%.

CIDRAP News: So pandemics have less to do with severity and more to do with how transmissible a virus is? 

Michael Osterholm: Both how transmissible it is and risk are important. For example, if you have a common cold virus for which we have no previous immunity suddenly spread around the world, most of us would not consider that a pandemic in the sense that it's not a severe illness. So there’s an implied status of severe illness.

CIDRAP News: What’s the difference between a pandemic and an epidemic? 

Michael Osterholm: Epidemic relates back to the issue of transmission. For example, we have a major epidemic of Ebola going on right now, which surely has a high case-fatality rate. It's a very serious illness, but it's not readily transmitted via the respiratory route. 

First mRNA flu shot gets FDA approval, raising hopes for a more effective vaccine

Surprising decision given RFK Jr.'s disdain and funding cuts for all mRNA vaccines

Sarah Boden

A first-of-its-kind flu shot using mRNA technology has been approved for adults 50 years of age and older by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 

Moderna's mFlusiva is the company's fourth mRNA-based product approved in the United States, according to a Moderna press release. The vaccine has full approval for people 50 to 64 years of age. For those over 65, the FDA granted "accelerated approval," which is temporary: Full approval depends on the long-term safety and real-world effectiveness of the vaccine in this age group.

Earlier this year, it seemed that the vaccine would never make it to market. The FDA refused to review Moderna's application, saying that instead of comparing mFlusiva to the standard-dose seasonal influenza vaccine, the company should instead have used the high-dose vaccine, which is recommended for adults who are 65 and older. Also, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has questioned the safety of mRNA, which is the same technology used to produce the COVID-19 vaccines.

However, a week later, the FDA reversed its decision and agreed to review Moderna's application after outcry from infectious disease experts and warnings that outright refusal to review the application could cause a chilling effect that would deter investments in new pharmaceuticals and dampen innovation. 

This food compound may help vaccines work better in older adults

British scientists look at a way to boost vaccine effectiveness

Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine

A naturally occurring compound called spermidine may help strengthen vaccine responses in some older adults by reducing biological signs of immune system aging, according to research published in Aging Cell.

The immune system becomes less efficient as people grow older, making it harder for the body to fight infections and respond fully to vaccines. 

This gradual decline, known as immunosenescence, can increase vulnerability to age-related health problems and leave some older adults with weaker protection after vaccination.

How vaccine skeptics use storytelling effectively to create powerful but medically inaccurate messaging

Vaccine stupidity has a long history

A drawing published by the London Society for
the Abolition of Compulsory Vaccination in the late 1800s.
Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia

Katherine Shwetz, Rice University; University of Toronto

As long as there have been vaccines, there have been people who doubted their science and safety.

Back in 19th-century England, people rioted against a mandatory smallpox vaccine, claiming that it violated civil rights and was an affront to human bodily integrity. In the United States, organizations dedicated to resisting vaccines have existed since the Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League of Brooklyn was established in 1894.

Researchers generally refer to people who do not follow the standard advice of health professionals about vaccines, by either refusing or delaying some or all vaccines, as vaccine hesitant. Today, vaccine hesitancy is most famously associated with the Make America Healthy Again movement and its standard-bearer, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Public health advocates and science communicators have largely tried to counter these ideas by offering accurate, factual information. But as a medical humanities researcher studying how groups that embrace vaccine hesitancy craft their message, I’ve learned that part of why vaccine hesitancy is so hard to combat is how these groups use storytelling to spread their views.

Vaccine-hesitant groups have fewer limitations than pro-vaccine groups on the kinds of stories they can tell about the development and impact of vaccines. While science-driven messaging that encourages vaccination has to be faithful to the complex and often uneventful reality of science, vaccine-skeptic stories tend to make more dynamic claims.

Dems push Trump to restore funding for global vaccination program

Communicable diseases do not care about national boundaries

Rep. Rose DeLauro Press Release

House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) issued the following statement after the State Department notified Congress of its intent to release $600 million in lawfully appropriated funding for Gavi, an international organization that supports children in developing nations with vaccine access.

“After continued advocacy from myself and my Democratic colleagues on the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, these funds are finally being allowed to flow. It is utterly shameful that these resources were ever blocked in the first place, and children around the world were deprived of desperately needed vaccines for nearly two years.

How can you trust a Health Secretary who
takes his grandchildren swimming in sewage?

“Gavi has helped to vaccinate over 1 billion children globally over the past 25 years, preventing more than 20 million deaths. The insertion of Secretary Kennedy’s senseless, selfish, and absurd crusade against vaccines is putting children in the United States and abroad at great risk. He must stop putting his own personal, ill-informed opinions above well-established scientific evidence before even more children get sick.”

Ranking Member DeLauro raised this issue during an Appropriations Committee meeting in late April.

Save kids' lives

Flu shots prevent 80% of death in kids

Mary Van Beusekom, MS

During eight respiratory illness seasons, estimated influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) against death in US children was 80% overall, 77% in those who had underlying medical conditions, and 87% among those without such conditions, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers report today in Pediatrics. 

The team used data from the US Influenza Associated Pediatric Mortality Surveillance System and survey data to estimate VE against death and assess vaccination status in children aged 6 months to 17 years who died of their infections from August 2016 through July 2025. The study excluded the 2020-21 flu season.

“Seasonal influenza vaccination has been shown to reduce the risk of influenza and severe complications among children aged 6 months and older,” the study authors noted. “Since 2010, reported numbers of influenza-associated pediatric deaths among children younger than 18 years have ranged from 37 during the 2011 to 2012 season to 289 during the 2024 to 2025 season.” 

Over half of flu deaths were in otherwise healthy children

In total, 1,234 children aged 6 months to 17 years died of flu. Overall, 48% of pediatric deaths occurred in children with one or more underlying medical conditions and 52% in those without such conditions. 

Of deaths in children with at least one high-risk condition, the greatest proportion of flu vaccination was in those with non-asthma lung disorders (35%), followed by immune-weakening conditions (33%) and genetic and mitochondrial disorders (29%) and was lowest among those with obesity (18%), diabetes (11%), and hemoglobinopathies such as sickle cell disease (8%).

Among 1,086 deaths with flu vaccination data, only 23% of 530 children with chronic conditions and 13% of 556 children without these conditions were fully vaccinated against flu. By season, the proportion of flu deaths in children vaccinated in the current year ranged from 26% in 2018-19 to 9% in 2024-25.