When going to doctors it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and question if you really even need all the shots, they give you. Despite the quantity of the vaccines, they are most certainly important. Especially now in the chillier months where sickness spreads easier. This 2025 season has been the worst flu outbreak in the last 15 years! The main cause of this? There are multiple reasons.
The last major disease outbreak happened with the swine flu back in 2009 and 2010. Yvonne Maldonado, a global health specialist at Stanford University states that this year the flu has been quite a mystery, “It’s hard to predict what each season’s flu pattern will look like…  however, the southern hemisphere did not exhibit the same pattern that we are seeing in the U.S.” She told the Healthline in an interview.
To show just how bad this can get, just this last week, when this was written, this disease in the death percentage was higher than Covid’s!
According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), they speculate that a big cause of this major outbreak is the effect of “vaccination fatigue.”  Did you get a vaccine for COVID-19? From the constant pressure of having to get a COVID vaccination, the public has started debating whether these immunity boosts work and their major intent. With these opinions, only about 44 percent of adults got flu shots this winter, which is lower than last year. The same with children, only 45 percent were up to date from the 50 percent last year.
Another speculation comes from the other disease appearance, the Bird Flu. Starting in January of this year, multiple cases of Bird Flu were reported in mass spreads of farms. The disease affected millions of cattle and wild animals; some have even passed away. This brings the other effects of the 66 confirmed human cases of avian influenza A which essentially is the Bird Flu. Influenza is the same Flu type that has been passed around lately. While some speculate the human cases were brought through cattle contact, others say it’s from the food products produced by the affected animals.
While it’s not just flu that’s being outbroken, there are other dangers in the air. Health officials say that the last case of Measles was reported over 25 years ago and is now suddenly resurfacing. The latest reports at this current time of writing show 58 official diagnoses of this disease in Texas with 12 hospitalizations. Government officials in Alabama even are asking residents to consider vaccinations to limit eventual spread. Other reports state measles appears globally in other countries.
These effects are deadly, and no one wants to be the next victim. Deimos Lovell, a Sophomore at Lakewood HS, states that he was sick all last week. “I was so sick; I couldn’t eat or drink anything.” While Deimos is vaccinated, he theorizes that it was a “bad infection.”
Teacher at Lakewood Ms. Ismail-Hussein, or Ms. Samm, states that she has been feeling under the weather a lot this season. “I have been having more frequent headaches.” Ms. Samm thinks that it might just be her allergies acting up, she is up to date with her vaccines.
This information reminds us of the importance of vaccination and to always take caution with diseases. Everyone’s body is different at fighting things off, but there are some universal things you can do to lower your risk. Such as drinking water, exercising, and maybe considering getting a vaccination for that extra protection.