ATLANTA — Today is the first day of the flu season, and it is time to think about getting a flu shot.
More than 80,000 people died in the United States from the flu last year.
The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report about last year's flu season.
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The report shows that 80,000 people died from flu-related complications in the United States alone.
According to health experts, that number is the highest flu-related death toll in at least four decades.
In that same report, experts cited that last year's flu vaccine just did not work as well.
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An Emory University Hospital doctor said it is still important for people to get vaccinated this year.
Dr. Marshall Lyon, an infectious diseases physician, said there are different vaccines for different groups.
For example, a high-dose vaccine is recommended for people over the age of 65 and another type for children.
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“We have what’s called the flu mist. That’s a trade name, and that’s the one that goes up the nose,” Lyon said.
“It won’t hurt them, it will help them, and even if you get sick, it will lighten the symptoms,” Marilyn Learner, a local grandmother, said.
Learner said she was not wasting any time in getting her grandson vaccinated.