As a trusted community resource, Cooperative Extension can play an important role in educating the public about the importance of immunizations, particular in the months immediately preceding flu season. Our friends that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have made it easy for us to do just that through their digital media tool kit focused on vaccinations. CDC’s seasonal flu vaccination campaign materials are available to partners like Cooperative Extension to assist them...

As a trusted community resource, Cooperative Extension can play an important role in educating the public about the importance of immunizations, particular in the months immediately preceding flu season. Our friends that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have made it easy for us to do just that through their digital media tool kit focused on vaccinations. CDC’s seasonal flu vaccination campaign materials are available to partners like Cooperative Extension to assist them...

A new CDC study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases external icon underscores the burden of influenza (flu) among children (0-17 years old) during nine flu seasons after the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. Researchers looked at pediatric flu hospitalizations recorded in the US Flu Hospitalization Surveillance Network (FluSurv-NET) from 2010-2019. The study found that pediatric flu-related hospitalization rates were consistently highest among children younger than 6 months who are too young to get...

CDC confirmed the bird flu virus detected in a person in the US is an H5N1 virus. H5N1 bird flu viruses first emerged in mid-90s to cause poultry outbreaks and human infections with a greater than 60% mortality rate. Over time H5N1 viruses have evolved. Current H5N1 viruses spreading in wild birds and poultry in the US and globally are genetically different from earlier versions of the virus. Learn more about the emergence and evolution of the H5N1 bird flu here.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just released their recommendations for the 2022-2023 flu season. The basic vaccine has been updated from last year to protect against new variants and a new vaccine cocktail is now recommended specifically for individuals 65 or older. For more information, visit https://www.cdc.gov/flu/season/faq-flu-season-2022-2023.htm

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) kicked off the 2023-2024 fall vaccination season during an annual press conference held yesterday. At the 2023 NFID Annual News Conference: Preventing Disease This Fall and Winter, experts discussed the unique opportunity this fall to protect people with vaccines recommended against flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), COVID-19, and pneumococcal disease. Leading national public...

For more than a decade, CDC has used a model to estimate the numbers of flu illnesses, medical visits, hospitalizations, and deaths during the flu season, and to estimate the impact that flu vaccination had on illness outcomes in the United States ( 1-6 ). The methods used to calculate the estimates of flu burden prevented by flu vaccination have been described previously ( 1 , 2 , 6 ). CDC uses the estimates of the impact of flu vaccination to inform policy and communications promoting...