A pediatric hospital medicine doctor is urging New Hampshire families to vaccinate children 6 months and older as the influenza season gets underway, citing national and state data on severe outcomes and urging parents to weigh the vaccine’s role in preventing hospitalizations and deaths.
Why she urges vaccination
Dr. Kathryn Hawrot said last week that the seasonal influenza vaccine reduces the risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death among children, and that last year 174 children in the United States died from influenza. About 85% of those children had not received the seasonal flu vaccine, she wrote, and two of the deaths occurred in New Hampshire.
“My child received the flu vaccine last year and still got sick — does it even work?”
Hawrot, writing in a column, acknowledged that the vaccine is not perfect because it is updated annually to match the strains experts expect to circulate. She said the vaccine nevertheless provides more protection than going without it and pointed to the range of illness seen in children, from milder respiratory symptoms to severe complications including viral pneumonia and rare cases of brain inflammation.
Scope of severe complications
- Doctors see a broad spectrum of flu illness in children, from outpatient visits to respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation, Hawrot said.
- She cited rare but serious complications such as necrotizing encephalopathy, noting there were 37 cases nationally in the 2024–25 season and that the condition carries a high fatality rate.
- Hawrot said more than three-quarters of eligible children affected by such severe complications were not vaccinated in those cases.
Hawrot emphasized that young children, particularly those under 5, are at higher risk of severe outcomes and that vaccination is recommended beginning at 6 months of age. She described clinical experience caring for children who required oxygen, intravenous fluids or intensive care because of influenza.
Public health context
The warning comes as public health surveillance in the region shows rising influenza activity compared with earlier weeks. State and federal health agencies monitor hospital admissions, laboratory reports and outpatient visits to track the season’s severity and timing.
The doctor’s column framed the vaccine as a preventive measure that lowers the chance of severe disease even when vaccinated people contract influenza. Her comments reiterate public health guidance that vaccination remains the primary tool to reduce flu-related hospitalizations and deaths among children.
Parents seeking vaccination or more information can contact their child’s primary care provider or local public-health authorities for clinic locations and eligibility details.
