Mississippi Health Officials Confirm Influenza Season’s First Pediatric Flu Death

A file photo shows an ambulance. Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images

Mississippi health officials have confirmed on Jan. 24 this flu season’s first pediatric influenza death.

The Mississippi State Department of Health said the patient had not received the flu vaccination, adding that the shot is the best protection against the virus “and the severe outcomes from flu infection.”

“All individuals 6 months of age and older are recommended to get an updated flu and COVID-19 vaccine this season,” said State Epidemiologist Dr. Renia Dotson.

Pediatric flu deaths were first reported in 2008. Since then, there have been a total of 27 pediatric deaths from the virus, the health department said.

Mississippi’s flu season reaches its height in January and lasts until March.

County health departments provide flu shots for patients under 18 under the federally funded Vaccines for Children Program.

Meanwhile, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nominee for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services in the second Trump administration, has criticized the flu vaccine.

“In a million years I would not take the flu shot,” Kennedy said on the podcast “Valuetainment” with Patrick Bet-David in July 2020.

He said people who get the flu shot are protected against one strain of flu but are also more likely to get different types of infection, citing a study by the U.S. military and others stating that the flu vaccine may increase the risk of susceptibility to other respiratory viruses.

When asked if he would support legislation to “outlaw the flu shot,” Kennedy said he is “a free market guy.”

“I’m against mandates,” he said. “There may be situations where that product might do some good for somebody, but I just don’t believe that it should be mandated.”

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), side effects of the flu vaccine are “generally mild and go away on their own within a few days.”

More severe reactions are rare and possibly include Guillain-Barré syndrome, a disorder where a person’s immune system damages their nerve cells, causing muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis, according to the CDC.