Tennessee’s flu rate remains high as federal health officials abruptly reduce flu shot recommendations

Although federal health officials have made a dramatic departure from established flu vaccine advice, local doctors are still recommending the shot every year.

The virus is spreading throughout the country, and Tennessee is no exception. It’s one of about a dozen states in dark purple on the flu map published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That indicates a “very high” level of activity. Most of the states are in the South or the Northeast.

Last week, the CDC shifted the flu vaccine into a different advice category. Instead of being one of the inoculations all kids get by default, the agency now says parents should talk to a health care provider about whether the shot is really necessary — what’s called “shared clinical decision-making,” NPR reports.

Children can start getting inoculated against influenza at 6 months old. Babies and toddlers tend to fare the worst after getting infected.

Dr. Joseph Gigante still recommends all of his patients get the jab. He’s a pediatrician at Vanderbilt’s Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital.

“Oftentimes, pushback we’ll get from parents is, ‘Well, my child got the flu vaccine last year, and they still got the flu,'” he said. “And that may be the case. Children who get the flu vaccine, even if they get the flu, are much less likely to be hospitalized, get admitted to the intensive care unit, and to die.”

Last year, the virus took 280 children’s lives. The CDC reported more pediatric deaths from the flu than any year since it began taking records, in 2004.

It’s not necessarily the flu itself that causes so many problems, Gigante said, but complications from the virus. Children are one of two groups most at risk for these complications, the other being older adults.

“Kids can still get overwhelming infection with sepsis,” he said. “They can get pneumonia… We have seen, over the last couple of weeks, multiple cases of flu every day.”

The flu vaccine was one of six that the CDC abruptly changed its recommendations on last week. Several medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, initiated a legal battle over the changes on Tuesday, according to the New York Times.