Influenza can sicken and kill. Vaccines are our best defense. Why…? Why…? Why…? Jasper whimpered, not just once or twice, but repeatedly. It was January 2026. For one awful week, my friend’s 21-month-old grandson was practically inert, spiked fevers to 103o, and barely ate or drank, all the while voicing his single word of despair.
Meanwhile, his mother and grandmother, who are both physicians in Boston, worried about dehydration, viral pneumonia, even a bacterial super-infection. They were also grieved to see a normally joyous toddler so psychologically distressed. This year, some version of “Why does my body feel so horrible?” entered the thoughts of many children fighting a newly-mutated strain of H3N2 influenza A that surged early — and hard. Although its final toll will not be tallied for months, data released by CDC on February 6 confirmed that 60 U.S. youngsters had already perished this season. Five of them were in Massachusetts, a state that last saw a child die of flu in 2013.