by Dick Hall-Sizemore

In addition to making a person really sick and miserable, the flu can be deadly. According to Virginia Dept. of Health data, 243 Virginians have died due to flu during the current flu season (Aug. 1, 2024 to March 29, 2025). Five of those deaths were children. During its peak, the week ending Feb. 8, 11 percent of all emergency room visits were for diagnosed cases of flu. Children constituted the largest segment of emergency room visits.

A flu vaccine has long been available. Unlike some other vaccines, it is not mandatory. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimated that, during the 2023-2024 season, the “influenza vaccination prevented 9.8 million influenza-related illnesses, 4.8 million medical visits, 120,000 influenza-related hospitalizations, and 7,900 influenza-related deaths.” Furthermore, it went on to report that the “influenza vaccination prevented the highest number of hospitalizations and deaths among older adults aged ≥65 years.”

There are numerous strains of the flu virus. In recent years, an advisory board of outside experts was assembly by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to recommend which three flu strains should be targeted in the upcoming season’s vaccines. Pharmaceutical companies rely on those recommendations to develop the vaccines for the next flu season.

The advisory panel was scheduled to meet on March 13. In late February, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr,, cancelled the meeting without any explanation. There was great concern in the medical community because the pharmaceutical industry needs about six months notice to develop the vaccines for the upcoming season. I was concerned because I am in that age group which receives the greatest protection from the vaccine and it seemed that the Secretary was toying with my future health and that of many other Virginians.

I needn’t have worried. On March 13, the FDA announced that a panel of government scientists from CDC, FDA, and the Department of Defense, rather than the outside panel, had met and made recommendations concerning the virus strains to be included in the flu vaccination for the 2025-2026 season.

When President Trump’s nominee to head the FDA was asked in a Congressional hearing about the reason for cancelling the meeting of the advisory committee, he replied that the administration felt the advisory committee had become too much of a “rubber stamp” for the recommendations made by the World Health Organization (WHO).

WHO released its recommendations of the virus strains to be included in the flu vaccination on Feb. 28. The recommendations of the FDA panel of government scientists were released two weeks later on March 13. They are identical to the WHO list. Glad we got that straight.