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VERIFY: Are children dying from the flu because they were not vaccinated?

11Alive searched for the answer.
A podium with the logo for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the Tom Harkin Global Communications Center on October 5, 2014 in Atlanta, Georgia.

It's flu season and that means the children, and adults, will be staying home from work and school to fight this debilitating virus.

But have you seen those reports that 85 percent of the 30 children who actually died from the flu this season lost their lives because they were not vaccinated?

11Alive is here to VERIFY whether or not that was true.

We reached out to the CDC in Atlanta and asked them to confirm whether or not the 30 children who tragically lost their lives to the flu were in fact, not vaccinated.

Their answer:

In general, they know from past season that 80-85% of pediatric deaths come from those children who are not vaccinated. However, in this instance where 30 children have died due to this string of the flu, they cannot say whether or not all 30 of those kids were not vaccinated.

So, the claim that most of these children who died due to the flu because they were not vaccinated is FALSE.

11Alive also wanted to VERIFY whether or the flu can be spread by just breathing.

Again, the CDC directed us to a study done by the University of Maryland that stated, yes, it is easier to spread the flu that what we once thought.

Doctors say that we are capable of breathing out tiny droplets filled with the flu virus that are capable of staying in the air for an extended period of time. Particularly during the first days the sickness begins.

So, is the claim that we can spread the flu by just breathing out the virus into the air true or false?

The answer: TRUE.

So, just remember to cover your mouth and be courteous if you are sick and are forced to be out and about. You could be saving someone's life.

SOURCES:

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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