Flu season came a month early this year in Tennessee and hit hard, disproportionately affecting children, according to Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Tennessee Department of Health and Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Nearly 10,000 faculty, staff, postdoc scholars and students were vaccinated at last week’s Flulapalooza event.

After a two-year pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Flulapalooza returned in person and thousands of Vanderbilt employees and students flocked to the daylong event.

A Vanderbilt study found that more than half of children diagnosed with influenza and deemed high risk for flu-related complications were given the recommended antiviral treatment.

Pediatricians with the Vanderbilt Vaccine Research Program are looking for healthy infants and children (6 months – 8 years of age) to take part in a nasal influenza vaccine study.

Vanderbilt research found parents who are reluctant to vaccinate their children against the flu are more than five times as likely to decline the COVID-19 vaccine for their children.