There's a lot of discussion about the benefits of vaccinating schoolchildren to eliminate circulation of the flu virus. It's definitely a consideration.
This is the first time that we are looking at lab-confirmed outcomes in children on a national level.
The only protection we have for them now is to vaccinate the people around them, particularly their mothers.
We have to learn more about why they died. We don't have a good idea.
Flu seasons change widely in severity. We don't know if this was a severe season or not. This (study) is really a benchmark for future seasons.
It was surprising that almost one half were previously healthy. We don't know if there's something about these healthy kids that put them at extra risk.
The limited (laboratory) data we have says that, okay, it's not going to prevent an illness but it may reduce the severity of the illness. But we haven't had enough good data to tell us what that means in real life.
