{"id":2776,"date":"2025-03-13T13:50:25","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T20:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/?p=2776"},"modified":"2025-03-13T13:50:25","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T20:50:25","slug":"reemergence-of-influenza-as-a-public-health-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/?p=2776","title":{"rendered":"Reemergence of Influenza as a Public Health Issue"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Robert L. Moore, MD, MPH, MBA, Chief Medical Officer<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe waves are going to keep coming, so you might as well learn to surf.\u201d<\/h1>\n

— Jon Kabat-Kinn, PhD, Founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Partnership data from 2024 showed a significant drop in Influenza vaccination in adults and children, representing part of a larger national trend. Partnership clinicians report an increased hesitancy to receive the flu vaccine, somewhat associated with residual concerns about the COVID vaccine, is the major driver for this decrease.<\/p>\n

Since the beginning of 2025, Influenza has overtaken COVID as the major cause of hospitalization and death from respiratory disease, as seen visually in the graph below. In the first week of February, there were three times as many deaths from influenza as from COVID in California, and four times as many hospitalizations. In California, 11 children died due to influenza over the last past seven months; three children died of COVID during the same period.<\/p>\n

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Source: California Department of Public Health\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The low vaccination rate, combined with a less-exact match of the vaccine to the currently circulating strains of influenza, are contributing factors to this increase in influenza concerns. While hospitals and emergency rooms are especially busy, there have not been widespread cancellations of elective surgeries; emergency room diversions and patients boarding in areas not usually used for acute patient care have been far below what was seen at the peak of COVID infections and during the H1N1 influenza pandemic of 2009.<\/p>\n

Amid the spread of influenza, bird flu (H5N1) is ravaging chicken farms leading to occasional infections of agricultural workers in the dairy and poultry industries. Fortunately, the bird flu strain appears much less virulent for humans than the Influenza A currently circulating.<\/p>\n

Strategies for Addressing Influenza Vaccine Hesitancy <\/strong><\/p>\n