Amid dropping vaccination rates, 25 children in New York State died from influenza during the 2024-25 flu season — more than in any recent flu season, state health authorities said on Wednesday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that more than 47 million people nationwide caught the flu between fall and spring and that more than 600,000 have been hospitalized. The hospitalization rate for flu is the highest it has been in 15 years.
A number of factors have probably contributed to influenza’s heavy toll. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, more people have chosen not to be vaccinated against the seasonal flu. And some researchers believe that the mix of strains circulating this year tend to be associated with more intense flu seasons.
The C.D.C. has attributed 216 pediatric deaths nationwide to the flu this season, a number that is expected to climb before the end of the season, which is receding. More than 10 percent of those deaths occurred in New York State, which is home to less than 6 percent of the nation’s children.
Of the 25 children who died from flu, only one was vaccinated, the state health commissioner, Dr. James V. McDonald, noted. Five were too young to be vaccinated, he said in a statement. The flu vaccine is not approved for children younger than 6 months.
The decline in flu vaccinations reflects a rising tide of distrust of the scientific establishment, which has left many people questioning the safety or effectiveness of vaccines. Before the pandemic, the share of Americans who received an annual flu shot had been slowly climbing.
In New York, the story is slightly more complicated. Most New York City children received a flu shot this past season: A C.D.C. estimate, based on a telephone survey, showed that 75.7 percent of children older than 6 months had been vaccinated, a significant increase over the previous year.
Statewide, the rate was much lower. Only 50 percent of eligible children outside New York City were estimated to have received their flu shot, according to the survey data. That was in line with the national rate of 49 percent.
“Misinformation around vaccines has in recent years contributed to a rise in vaccine hesitancy and declining vaccination rates,” Dr. McDonald said.
Nearly half of the state’s pediatric flu deaths occurred in New York City.
A spokeswoman for the state Health Department, Cadence Acquaviva, said that New York in the past several years has become more rigorous in identifying childhood deaths attributable to the flu. Before 2021, the state Health Department mainly relied on passive reporting from doctors and hospitals, she said. Since then, the department has also sought other data, including death certificates, to identify cases. That may have increased New York’s share of deaths.
Dr. James Schneider, the chief of pediatric critical care at Cohen Children’s Medical Center on the eastern edge of Queens, said while it was a “very busy year with flu,” this season had not seemed particularly unusual.
“It didn’t really stand out in my mind as a big outlier,” he said.
Joseph Goldstein covers health care in New York for The Times, following years of criminal justice and police reporting.
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