Off-season for flu

Chalk it up as another unexpected beneficial byproduct of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Massachusetts has rescinded its demand that nearly every student in the state receive a flu shot this academic year.

The state had required anyone 6 months or older in child-care centers, preschool, kindergarten, K-12 schools, and colleges and universities to get the flu vaccine, unless they had a religious or medical exemption. Home-schooled students or higher-education students living off campus and taking classes remotely also were exempt from the shot requirement.

The Department of Public Health continues to “strongly recommend’’ that anyone 6 months or older get a flu shot every year, according to a spokesperson for the agency. “Preliminary data show that this has been a mild flu season to date, presumably as people have received their seasonal flu vaccine and have been adhering to maskwearing and social distancing due to COVID-19,’’ a spokesperson wrote in a statement released last week.

“Given the intensive Commonwealth-wide efforts regarding COVID-19 vaccination, DPH wants to alleviate the burden to obtain flu vaccination and focus on continuing our COVID-19 vaccination efforts.’’

That’s about a 180-degree reversal from the DPH’S initial guidance.

When this edict was issued in August, state officials said the mandate’s intent was to take pressure off health-care systems due to the likely extension of the coronavirus pandemic into flu season.

That directive drew protests from groups opposed to vaccine mandates who insisted flu shots for children should be a parent’s decision, not the government’s.

While we don’t know many adults and children have received flu vaccinations, it’s obvious that adhering to social distancing and mask-wearing has done a better job at mitigating the spread of the flu than this novel virus. Also, the last thing this rocky rollout of COVID vaccinations needs is competition from mass flu vaccinations.