CDPH Urges Flu Vaccination for Everyone 6 Months and Older as Influenza Cases Rise
Stock photo from Can Stock Photo
Press release from the California Department of Public Health:
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is alerting health care providers and the public that influenza (flu) activity and hospital admissions are increasing across the state. A newly emerged influenza A strain, H3N2 subclade K, is circulating globally and has been detected in California.
“Current seasonal flu vaccines remain effective at reducing severe illness and hospitalization, including the currently circulating viruses,” said Dr. Erica Pan, CDPH Director and State Public Health Officer. “It is important for families to know that flu vaccines, tests, and treatments remain widely available for all Californians and that it is not too late to get a flu vaccine. As a pediatrician, parent, and daughter, I have made sure that my own family is protected with this season’s flu vaccine.”
CDPH has also confirmed the second pediatric flu-associated fatality in California this season. Young children and older adults remain at highest risk for severe flu complications, and there are several ways for families to take action to protect their health.
Take Action
- Vaccinate Now: Everyone 6 months and older who has not yet received the 2025–26 influenza vaccine should get vaccinated as soon as possible. Vaccination is the best defense against severe influenza and hospitalization. To schedule your vaccine appointment, contact your health care provider, local pharmacy, or visit myturn.ca.gov.
- Test Promptly: Individuals with flu symptoms at risk for serious disease should check with their doctor to see if they should be tested in case they may benefit from treatment. At-home combined influenza/COVID-19 tests can be used when available.
- Start Antivirals Immediately: High-risk and hospitalized patients with suspected flu should receive antiviral treatment without delay, even before test results are confirmed. Recommended treatments include oseltamivir or single-dose baloxavir, which reduce the risk of serious illness and hospitalization.
Coverage and Availability
Despite changes in federal recommendations, CDPH’s recommended vaccines will continue to be covered by health care insurers regulated by the State of California and can be received at your local pharmacy, from your health care provider, or through other authorized vaccine providers at no cost. To schedule your vaccine appointment, contact your health care provider, local pharmacy, or visit myturn.ca.gov.
Resources
Visit the CDPH Respiratory Virus Dashboard for updates on influenza and other respiratory viruses. For healthcare providers, clinical guidance and resources is available at the CDPH Influenza Update webpage. The CDPH Flu Vaccine Toolkit is also available online and provides educational resources and downloadable materials about the benefits of the flu vaccine. For more information about flu prevention and vaccine eligibility, visit the CDPH Influenza webpage.
Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules
Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/
Got mine a month ago, didn’t even cry.
ED visits have peaked for the comparative calender period, in the low range, at 2.57%, just above the very low range (very low is <2%, low is 2%-9%) and are trending down, for now, (blue), lower than season before last, (violet), and lower than last season, (orange)… …in the Rural North…
Emergency Department visits…
“Vaccination is the best defense against severe influenza and hospitalization.” 😆
And that would be a flat out LIE.
Vitamins and minerals need a better marketing team…
Full subsidies for fruit and vegetable farmers! Fruit and vegetables should be pennies on the dollar.
Oh, and bring back the Presidential Physical Fitness test, 💪 kids these days are ridiculously soft and puffy.
While we’re at it, let’s create a similar fitness test for adults (with incentives to prove competency?) and mandate proficiency for all of our law enforcement who are largely, large!
A healthy diet will help you recover faster.
Getting vaccinated will either prevent illness entirely, or will at least make it less severe.
“Getting vaccinated will either prevent illness entirely, or will at least make it less severe.”
Source?
Define less severe. How does one the prove that outlandish magical thinking claim?
https://www.numberanalytics.com/blog/vaccine-effectiveness-biostatistics-guide
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468042724001301
Bro really? One thing I really love about everyone here is that we have the caffeinated prowess of a college student in the last semester in our ability to consume words and don’t mind a reading 2,000 word reports. 🤓
That said , Neither of these studies actually shows that the flu shot reduces severity or hospitalization. One is a theoretical study guide about vaccine math, and the other is a COVID model based on death stats in made-up populations.
Neither includes randomized data, real-world clinical comparisons, or flu-specific outcomes…you know the stuff you might need if you were trying to prove that the flu-poke wasn’t the joke it is.
Unless you got any other fancy links in your arsenal, I think it’s safe to assume no one can “prove” that a shot made someone’s illness milder !
That’s faith- based medicine.
If anything, these studies highlight how speculative the whole framework is, especially for low-risk illnesses like the seasonal flu.
This year’s mismatched flu vaccine, as it turns out, does very little if anything to actually prevent infection from this year’s circulating flu strain…!!!
I’m not even going to waste my time debunking this today. It’s just another broken record. The homework is ALL you today TRG.
Talk is cheap…
It’s not that you just aren’t going to debunk it, it’s just that you can’t debunk it…
That’s the only reason you aren’t..
Because you can’t…
If you actually could you definitely would have already…
You’ll only be wasting your time, if you try and prove me wrong…
I’ve done my homework, now, why don’t you just do yours…???
The broken record this season will be for flu infections, because the mismatched vaccine ain’t working, and it ain’t gonna work to prevent influenza…
Prove me wrong, or you might as well just face it that, as a matter of fact, you CAN’T….
https://www.statnews.com/2026/01/06/flu-season-2026-subclade-k-explained-by-influenza-experts/
“So does this year’s vaccine protect against subclade K?
Subclade K viruses weren’t on the radar when influenza experts from around the globe gathered last February to select the strains the 2025-2026 flu shots should target.
➡️ Even when the vaccine contains viruses that are well matched to those that are circulating, the H3N2 component often under-performs. ⬅️
It offers protection against severe disease, but ➡️ may not prevent infection. ⬅️ ”
___________________________________
…”often underperforms”, and “…may not prevent infection…”…
Read ’em and weep, CSM, read ’em and weep…
I’m calling your bluff, CSM, and I’m all in…
Show your hand, or fold it…
Either way, you lose…
I do my homework…
And I ain’t just all talk…
This shows what happened elsewhere, showing the VE absolutely plummeting over time from top to bottom, and from other flu strains to H3N2 subklade K dominance, as early as of October of 2025 rolling around…
Light green is as good as it got, dark orange is absolutely dismal VE H3N2 sub klade K flu protection…
Dark orange is a >32 fold reduction in “protection”,for lack of a better term..
Absolutely dismal…
https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2025.30.46.2500854
I never had a flu shot, but keep making them available for those who do want them.
But did they not say this Years vaccine does not aline with this year flu strain?
It doesn’t, but I gather that it can still be partially effective, reducing your symptoms. HTH.
To answer the question…
No, they didn’t…
And this statement from the press release is poorly written…
“Current seasonal flu vaccines remain effective at reducing severe illness and hospitalization, including the currently circulating viruses,” said Dr. Erica Pan, CDPH Director and State Public Health Officer.“
WTAF…???
It dimwittedly makes it sound like, “the currently circulating viruses” are included with the Current seasonal flu vaccines, às far as being equally effective…
She says, quote, “…including the currently circulating viruses”, “Current seasonal flu vaccines remain effective at reducing severe illness and hospitalization…
FFS…
That means that “the currently circulating viruses”, remain just as effective at reducing severe illness and hospitalization, just the same as the “Current seasonal flu vaccines” are as “effective at reducing severe illness and hospitalization…
Sounds about right…
Freudian slip…???
They could use a proofreader…
If you read between the lines,…
…that means that the vaccines ain’t doin’ jack shit against infection,or anything else…
And how do they know anything at all about it’s overall effectiveness, until at least the current season is in full swing, or maybe even untill it’s over…???
They really can’t know for sure, until after it’s over…
Let’s not kid ourselves….
On the advice from my doctor, I did get my flu shot. There is no guarantee it will work, but hopefully if I do get the flu, it will make it easier to live with. Thankfully it is up to each person to decide.
Two thumbs and two big toes up for your last sentence. I hope you fare well this season, Martin.
Let’s be entirely honest, and locally relevant, folks…
Because, this statement, That this press release leads with…..
“The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is alerting health care providers and the public that influenza (flu) activity and hospital admissions are increasing across the state.”
…is not true for the “Rural North” Region…
That includes US …
Flu hospital admissions are not “…increasing across the state.”, as a matter of fact…!!!
They are in some parts of the state, , but that’s definitely not what’s happening, “across the state”…
That is misleading and incorrect…
Because…
In the “Rural North” Region, ( Here where WE are), hospital admissions are clearly shown to have actually DECREASED, as a matter of fact…!!!
It’s also very interesting to see the 5 month downward trajectory for COVID-19 hospital admissions here in the Rural North region, that have fallen remarkably, and are now well below flu hospitalizations, since Covid-19 hospitalizations peaked in the Rural North region, in late August of 2025, even considering a slight uptick in what appears to be just the last week or so…
Chart shows current admission rate is 1.8…
For flu, “very low” is shown in this chart to be <1, “low” is shown to be 1-4, so 1.8 is very solidly on the “very low” side of “low”, as midrange of “low” would be 2.5…
FFS…
I’m not going to be misled into freaking out with flu hospitalizations decreasing, not increasing, now shown to have fallen slightly to barely above “very low”, into the “lower than mid low” low territory…
Believe what you want, but I consider it nothing more than fear mongering propaganda to mislead and deceive people into believing that what is happening elsewhere in the State of California, but isn’t happening here, in our Rural North region, is indicated to be also happening here, as in, “across the state”, when, as a matter of fact, that is completely, patently, untrue for our officially designated region, and actually could be very realistically considered a very manipulative lie…
What’s actually happening in our officially designated region, is what should actually be officially reported, in our officially designated region, damnit…
Otherwise, WTF…???, it’s a false alarm…
Don’t tell me “a fire” or any other threat, like flu, is “building” “across the state”, if it’s actually “dissipating” in my Rural North region…
If Flu hospital admissions are actually decreasing, not increasing, in my region, as a matter of fact, then, by golly, that’s the truth that I want to know about…
Don’t piss on my leg and try to tell me it’s raining…
Because flu hospitalizations, in our Rural North region, have decreased, as a matter of fact, not increased, as clearly shown by their own fucking data…
Don’t justify pushing flu vaccinaions in our Rural North region, by totally bullshitting us…
Give us the facts, without making us dig and dig for them, like I had to do, in order to uncover the actual truth of the matter, and in order to determine that the press release is actually untrue…
That’s just simply not credible, and naturally leads directly to suspicion and distrust…
Press Releases need to be fact checked for accuracy, for the same, exact, reasons…
Would anyone else concur…???
Was anyone else misled, and/or does anyone else feel they were misled…???
I sure do/did…
And it’s not the first time our Rural North region’s data did not accurately reflect Official statements from, say, the likes of HCHO Candy Stockton…
It may be fear mongering, but it seems more like ineffective advertising for a product that only a small amount of the population is interested in (regardless of perceived efficacy). I just ignore and am on with my day.
Not a cynical or rhetorical question, i really do wonder:
What is the big deal about the flu in recent years? “The flu” is the very thing you say, along with “the common cold,” when you refer to a run-of-the-mill sickness that comes and goes every once in a while with no harm done– to contrast with horrendously dangerous scourges. When i was a kid (1960s), getting the flu was a chance to stay home from school, watch a little more TV, and eat ice cream once in a while (don’t know what good that did).
My list of possibilities for the increased concern is:
Any ideas or info about this?
Is I understand it, flu viruses go dormant in birds.
Periodically there’s a wicked variant that comes out and kills millions of people.
A precarious reality is the fact that most of our food sources, like cattle (and mono crop cultivation of plants) are immunocompromised because of stress and crazy living situations (industrial farming) and all that it takes is some birds flying overhead to shed virus a.k.a. pooping on them, and then you’ve potentially crossed species.
It’s a numbers game. For the people who don’t want to get a flu vaccine, that’s fine, but every so often there’s a flu that rears its head that takes out a lot of people. I don’t really think that that can be denied.
Definitely people are wimpier than ever!!.
And in the shift toward hedonistic atheism, God and instinctive natural knowledge has been replaced with blind faith in pharmaceuticals.
People line up for injections they admit likely don’t work, because the alternative of getting sick like a human has been instilled with fear.
Trust in our own bodies is lost . There is little understanding or practice of natural health routines in disease management. Rest has little merit, and instead the answer is to beg the white coats for salvation…
” fingers crossed ;hope to die ; stick a needle in my eye..”..
Maybe the annual do-nothing flu shots are just a magical thinking ritual that fills the void created by shallow understanding and the loss of other faith-based rituals.
PS I am not saying any of those possibilities includes facts– am saying that they are possible scenarios explaining the increasing promotion of flu shots
Call me cynical but…There sure is money to be made!! BigPharma has established itself as a huge money-making machine and so their marketing branch certainly is a part of the equation. I know some college kids and they all think it’s totally normal for them all to get flu shots every year! They are 19, 20 years old in prime health…Never saw that when we were young… (I am not anti-vax or pro I think everybody should have that personal choice)
Influenza mutates constantly, and it’s a crapshoot whether it’ll be more or less dangerous; the 1918 epidemic proved that; it killed hundreds of millions of people around the world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu
I prefer to get the flu shot because even though they didn’t include the right one, partial immunity would help mitigate symptoms so I or my immuno-compromised husband don’t end up in the hospital or dead.
The very old and very young are more vulnerable, and I’d rather babies or your grandma don’t die from it.
Yes, thank you for sharing your angle. I can see why it could be worrisome.
But what i was really asking about is why the worry now, in 2026? The “Spanish flu” of 1918+ was over a hundred years ago, and sure, something similar will happen again, but when it starts to, that’s when people in droves will start to take the vaccine. If there’s no evidence of a strain being much more troublesome than a head cold, not as many would bother– at least it seems to me. We relaxed about it for most of a century, but now the atmosphere, the verbiage, seems to be “Worry! You or your loved ones or just too many people could become very dangerously ill!” so i wondered where that was coming from.
Guess it’s quite likely that Covid had an impact on how people saw illness, contagion, masking, etc.
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/season/2025-2026.html
2025–2026 Flu Season
For Everyone
JAN. 7, 2026
“It is too early to know how well flu vaccines will work in the United States this season.”
-CDC-
A FEW MINUTES LATER…
“Current seasonal flu vaccines remain effective at reducing severe illness and hospitalization, including the currently circulating viruses,” said Dr. Erica Pan, CDPH Director and State Public Health Officer. “
-RHBB-
SMDH…!!!
( Estimated efficacy is that only 30% to 40% of severe illnesses and hospitalizations in adults might be prevented with the currently mismatched flu vaccine..)
FYI…
“Composition of 2025-2026 flu vaccines
All flu vaccines for the 2025-2026 season will be trivalent. This means they are formulated to protect against three main seasonal influenza Type A and B viruses: an A(H1N1) virus, an A(H3N2) virus, and a B/Victoria lineage virus.
Flu vaccines for the U.S. 2025–2026 season contain the following:
Egg based:
an A/Victoria/4897/2022 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus;
an A/Croatia/10136RV/2023 (H3N2)-like virus; and (Updated)
a B/Austria/1359417/2021 (B/Victoria lineage)-like virus
Cell- or recombinant-based vaccines
an A/Wisconsin/67/2022 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus;
an A/District of Columbia/27/2023 (H3N2)-like virus; and (Updated)
a B/Austria/1359417/2021 (B/Victoria lineage)-like virus”
Well what do you know…
The truth comes out…
I told you so…
https://www.2news.com/news/national/flu-vaccines-didnt-work-that-well-in-the-u-s-officials-find/article_f48f32e1-573a-4f4a-8fbe-25aacfdc7a8e.html
‘Flu vaccines didn’t work that well in the U.S., officials find’
“As the U.S. flu season winds down, ➡️health officials say the flu vaccine didn’t work very well, with one of its worst effectiveness rates in more than a decade.⬅️
➡️A new strain that dominated the early winter was not well matched to the vaccine, leading to an intense early onslaught of flu.⬅️
➡️This season’s vaccines were around 25% to 30% effective in preventing adults from getting sick enough from the flu that they had to go to a doctor’s office, clinic or hospital, according to a CDC report this week.⬅️ Children who were vaccinated were about 40% less likely to get treatment at a doctor’s office or hospital.
➡️Officials generally are pleased if a flu vaccine is 40% to 60% effective.⬅️ ➡️Judging from past CDC research, this season saw one of the lowest effectiveness rates in the last two decades.⬅️”
______________________________________
SUCKERS…!!!