Flu-associated medical visits and hospitalizations per 100,000 population in 2022-23 were higher among children under age five than for older children but were higher for older children than for any season since 2016-17, the CDC reported. Over half of pediatric hospitalizations for flu in 2022-23 occurred in October and November, compared with just 2%-7% during prior flu seasons since 2016, and fewer than two in 10 hospitalized children had received a flu vaccine, compared with 36%-42% in the prior flu seasons. Hospitalized children who were symptomatic also were less likely to receive antiviral medication for flu compared with seasons before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read the full study from the CDC.