At Dallas’s Guadalupe Medical Center, staff are treating a wave of flu cases as they check in about 140 patients a day. “This year, pretty much every other child that comes in is positive for flu, and we’re seeing that they, the siblings, the parents … sometimes we only test one and assum e the rest have it because they all have the same symptoms,” said Dr. Marcial Oquendo. “So we’re definitely seeing a big uptick.” New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week showed flu cases rose more than 7% in a single week. Texas is among more than two dozen states reporting very high flu activity, and doctors say they are seeing more severe cases. “We’re seeing that the majority of cases are the influenza H3N2, which this year has been seen that is not a good match with the vaccine because there was a virus change or a virus drift,” said Dr. Carla Garcia Carreno, a pediatric infectious disease physician at Children’s Health. Carreno said that while cases have dipped slightly week over week, it is still too early to tell whether flu cases have peaked. The hospital system is experiencing its worst flu season in 20 years. “It’s really important to say that even though the vaccine doesn’t have good match, it’s still the most robust tool that we have to prevent against severe disease,” Carreno said. Amid the surge, the Trump Administration has announced changes to childhood vaccine recommendations, removing the universal flu shot recommendation for children alongside others like RSV and COVID-19. Dr. Oquendo said he continues to recommend flu shots at his Dallas clinic to help reduce serious illness. “Overall, there’s this feeling amongst pediatricians that we know there’s a lot more questions, there’s a lot more distrust of the vaccines in general, not just the flu vaccines,” he said. “So it’s a conversation that we sometimes have to take more time to go with the parents through to make them understand what are the pros and cons of any of the vaccines.” ...read more read less