With up to 7.3M people hit by flu this season, scientists search for a better vaccine

Between 6.2 million and 7.3 million people in the United States have developed the flu this season, according to data released Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This is the first time the agency has provided an inseason estimate of national flu cases.

The CDC also estimated that between 2.9 million and 3.5 million people have seen a doctor because of the flu since the season began in October. Between 69,300 and 83,500 people have been hospitalized because of the virus.

Thirty states have reported widespread flu activity, although flu is present in every state. Fifteen states reported high levels of flu activity as of the week ending Jan. 5. That’s four fewer states than the previous week.

Three children’s deaths related to the flu were reported in the week ending Jan. 5, bringing the pediatric death toll to 16 for this season, according to the CDC.

Provisional data on how well this season’s flu vaccine is working won’t be available for at least several more weeks.

Last season’s flu shot was 40 percent effective, and 37 percent of adults got vaccinated. The result, experts say: An estimated 80,000 Americans died during last year’s remarkably severe flu season, the deadliest in more than four decades.

Instead of relying on vaccinations every year, scientists are getting closer to a flu vaccine that would last through multiple seasons, called a universal flu vaccine.

“It will be a gamechanger,” said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease at the National Institutes of Health. “It also would very likely be a much more effective vaccine than the ones we have to make each year.”

Doctors should know by the beginning of 2021 whether they have a universal flu vaccine, Dr. Fauci said.