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Dec. 7, 2025, 10:00 AM ESTBy Andrew GreifWith a month to play in the NFL season, two things are certain.The Titans, Giants, Raiders, Saints and Cardinals have already been eliminated from making the playoffs, with the loser of Sunday’s Commanders-Vikings game joining them.And the rest of the league is headed toward postseason chaos.In the NFC, 10 teams have a winning record entering Week 14 for only the third time (after 2014 and 1979) since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, according to NBC Sports research. How widespread is that parity? The Lions, the conference’s top seed just last year, are currently on the outside looking in on the playoffs.In the AFC, the once mighty could fall. The Chiefs, perennial Super Bowl contenders, are perilously close to seeing their decadelong playoff streak snapped. Meanwhile, the once lowly could rise. Houston has a chance to become only the seventh team in NFL history — and only the second in the past quarter century — to make the postseason after starting 0-3.Of the eight divisions in the NFL, five are currently separated by one or fewer games, the first time that’s been the case this deep into the season since 2019, per NBC Sports research.Who leads which division could change in three of them just this weekend.Baltimore (6-6) will host Pittsburgh (6-6) and the winner will take over first place in the AFC North. They play again in the Week 18 regular-season finale. Few thought the Ravens would be in this position. At the season’s start, Baltimore looked like it could again be among the league’s best. A few weeks later, as quarterback Lamar Jackson was injured and the team fell to 1-5, Baltimore’s season looked like it might be unsalvageable. Yet Pittsburgh’s inability to build off its 4-1 start has allowed the Ravens an opportunity to become only the fifth team ever to begin 1-5 and make the playoffs.Though the Ravens have won five of their last six games, Jackson hasn’t looked like his old self, completing just 56% of his passes since Week 10 and failing to throw a touchdown pass in his last three games, the longest streak of his career as a starter.Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, meanwhile, has an even lower completion percentage (52%) since Week 10 and is playing despite multiple fractures in his left wrist.In the AFC South, whoever wins Sunday’s game between Indianapolis (8-4) and Jacksonville (8-4) will take over first place. These teams will meet again in Week 17.The Colts were the NFL’s darling while starting 7-1, but their rocky record since has put them in danger of becoming only the sixth team since 1970 to start 7-1 or better and still miss the playoffs. (The last to pull off that ignominious accomplishment were the 2012 Bears.) Gulp: The Colts have lost 10 straight road games to Jacksonville.In Green Bay, the Packers (8-3-1) will host the Bears (9-3), with the NFC North division lead up for grabs. The matchup offers contrasting streaks and styles. Chicago‘s 26 takeaways are the most in the league, while Green Bay’s seven are the fewest. The Bears have won nine of their last 10 games this season, but Green Bay has won 11 of its last 12 against Chicago.Logic would suggest that this game could go a long way toward shaping the playoff field. Yet if this topsy-turvy season, where no dominant team has emerged, has revealed anything, it’s that when the Packers and Bears meet again in just two weeks, the playoff picture could be just as murky as it is now.More from SportsMichael Jordan testifies in NASCAR lawsuit, calling the racing body an unfair monopolyFIFA World Cup draw: United States to face Australia, Paraguay and winner of Turkey, Romania, Slovakia and KosovoThe Aaron Rodgers experiment is starting to fall apartWhat else we’re watching for in Week 14Steelers (6-6) at Ravens (6-6): Baltimore’s John Harbaugh and Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin are facing each other for the 39th time, which trails only George Halas and Curly Lambeau (49 meetings) for the most by two head coaches in history.Colts (8-4) at Jaguars (8-4): In his last two games, both losses, Colts quarterback and onetime MVP candidate Daniel Jones has completed a combined 4-for-14 passes for 41 yards.Bengals (4-8) at Bills (8-4): Ja’Marr Chase has 971 receiving yards, and with 29 more, he’ll join Justin Jefferson, Mike Evans, A.J. Green and Randy Moss among the only players in NFL history with 1,000-plus receiving yards in each of their first five seasons.Seahawks (9-3) at Falcons (4-8): A loss will eliminate Atlanta from making the playoffs. Seattle’s three losses have come by a combined nine points.Titans (1-11) at Browns (3-9): Browns end Myles Garrett (19 sacks) is four sacks away from breaking the single-season sack record of 22.5 co-owned by Michael Strahan and T.J. Watt.Commanders (3-9) at Vikings (4-8): Minnesota last week was shut out for the first time since 2007. It is averaging only 10.5 points in its four-game losing streak, and its last touchdown came in Week 11.Dolphins (5-7) at Jets (3-9): With a loss, the Jets will miss the playoffs for the 15th consecutive season, which will become the longest active playoff drought not only among NFL teams, but also in the NBA, NHL, MLB and WNBA.Saints (2-10) at Buccaneers (7-5): Tampa has made the playoffs five consecutive seasons, the longest active streak in the NFC. When Tampa beat New Orleans in Week 8, it was Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield’s only game this season without a touchdown pass.Broncos (10-2) at Raiders (2-10): If Denver wins, Kansas City must win the rest of its games to preserve even a small chance of winning the AFC West.Bears (9-3) at Packers (8-3-1): Green Bay is 3-0 in the NFC North. Chicago has the lowest completion percentage among qualified passers (58%), but coach Ben Johnson says of quarterback Caleb Williams: “Throw those [stats] out the window. He’s doing a really good job.”Rams (9-3) at Cardinals (3-9): One bright spot for Arizona is that tight end Trey McBride’s 88 catches are the most in the league. Rams star receiver Puka Nacua enters with 86.Texans (7-5) at Chiefs (6-6): Kansas City is 5-1 at home. Houston’s defense allows the fewest yards (265) and points (16.5) per game.Eagles (8-4) at Chargers (8-4) on Monday: With 21 touchdown passes this season, Justin Herbert joins Russell Wilson, Peyton Manning and Dan Marino among the only quarterbacks with 20-plus touchdown passes in each of their first six seasons.Andrew GreifAndrew Greif is a sports reporter for NBC News Digital. 

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Of the eight divisions in the NFL, five are currently separated by one-or-fewer games, the first time that’s been the case this deep into the season since 2019. Who leads which division could change in three just this weekend.



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Dec. 7, 2025, 10:35 AM ESTBy Freddie ClaytonSudan is facing what the World Food Programme has called “the humanitarian crisis of our time,” as tens of millions struggle through sieges, blockades and aid shortages that have pushed entire cities into famine.What began as a power struggle between rival generals more than two years ago has since plunged Sudan into a brutal civil war that has killed more than 150,000 people and displaced millions from their homes, with mass killings leaving bloody sand visible from space and ruined infrastructure.Sudan “is the largest humanitarian crisis in the world today,” Leni Kinzli, the WFP’s Sudan communications officer, told NBC News on Sunday. “It can no longer be forgotten or ignored, simply because the severity and the scale is one that has really not been seen at this level.”At least 21.2 million people — roughly 45% of Sudan’s population — are now facing high levels of acute food insecurity, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, the internationally recognized system for assessing famine and food insecurity. Famine conditions have been confirmed in Darfur’s el-Fasher and Kadugli, where “people have endured months without reliable access to food or medical care,” the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization has said.Kinzli described a landscape where even relatively calm areas remain fragile, while other regions edge deeper into hunger. She said WFP can reach 4 million to 5 million people with food and nutrition support each month and has the capacity to assist 8 million, but “the resources we have available are not keeping pace with the need.”Aid delivery remains extremely difficult in violence-ridden areas, where conflict between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continues to shape the crisis.That includes el-Fasher, which was under siege by the RSF for more than 18 months, during which time “absolutely no” aid supplies were able to get in, added Kinzli. The RSF eventually overran the Sudanese army’s last major stronghold in Darfur in October.Sudanese girls who fled el-Fasher receive humanitarian aid at the al-Afad camp for displaced people in the town of al-Dabbah, northern Sudan, on Nov. 25.Ebrahim Hamid / AFP – Getty ImagesIn South Kordofan, a drone attack by Sudanese paramilitary forces hit a kindergarten on Thursday, killing 50 people, including 33 children, according to a local doctors’ group.United Nations aid teams in Sudan issued a joint statement on Thursday warning that the violence “is restricting access to food, medicine and essential supplies, and is limiting farmers’ access to their fields and markets, heightening the risk of famine spreading across the Kordofan states.”U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk warned: “We must not allow Kordofan to become another el-Fasher. It is truly shocking to see history repeating itself in Kordofan so soon after the horrific events in el-Fasher.”And on the ground, conditions are already bleak.“We are seeing pretty much the same exact things in the state of South Kordofan,” said Dr. Mohamed Elsheikh, a spokesperson for Sudan Doctors Network. The RSF is “doing the same siege, the same blockade, they are not allowing food or medicine to get into the cities,” he told NBC News, adding that between Sept. 20 and Oct. 20 of this year, 23 children died from severe malnutrition.For the past three months, Sudanese civilians have endured RSF attacks, Elsheikh said, including widespread atrocities and human rights violations, with civilians executed arbitrarily and key infrastructure — such as hospitals, clinics, schools and homes — deliberately targeted by airstrikes.The Sudan Doctors Network has documented 19 cases of rape committed by RSF forces against women who fled the fighting in el-Fasher and arrived at the al-Afad camp in al-Dabbah, said Elsheikh.Fighting in Sudan began in April 2023, when the Sudanese military, led by the country’s top commander and de facto ruler, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, clashed with his former deputy, Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo — a former camel dealer widely known as Hemedti, who leads the RSF.RSF forces walk amid bodies and burning vehicles during an attack near el-Fasher, Sudan, in this image from video released on Oct. 27.Social Media / via ReutersBoth men had previously led counterinsurgency operations against uprisings in the region, a conflict that in 2005 contributed to Omar al-Bashir becoming the first sitting head of state indicted by the International Criminal Court on suspicion of genocide.Burhan and Dagalo were part of the military establishment that ousted al-Bashir in 2019 after widespread popular unrest. Two years later, they agreed to share power following a coup that brought down the Western-backed government of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.However, their alliance broke down spectacularly over how to manage the transition to a civilian government. With neither willing to cede power, full-scale fighting erupted, dragging Sudan deeper into conflict and a humanitarian crisis.With no resolution in sight, the war is only becoming more entrenched and chaotic, Hager Ali, a research fellow at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies, told NBC News. What began as a two-sided struggle has splintered into a tangle of local battles, reopening old regional grievances and eroding whatever central authority once existed, she said.Both sides have shifted “from trying to win this war to trying not to lose,” she added, noting that as the fighting regionalizes, it has produced “smaller fronts, smaller conflicts, which has complicated the chain of command,” making even a negotiated ceasefire nearly impossible to enforce. Sudanese volunteers prepare free meals for those who fled el-Fasher at the al-Afad camp on Nov. 20.Ebrahim Hamid / AFP – Getty ImagesNearly 13 million people have been forced to flee their homes in search of safety, according to the U.N. Human Rights Council, and have been displaced within the country or are living in neighboring countries such as Chad, South Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia.Funding for the regional response is less than 10% of what is needed, it said, making it impossible to cover basic needs.But where funding is available, and where fighting has abated, some areas have shown signs of recovery.Last year, there were 10 areas confirmed to be suffering from famine, said Kinzli, but “now there are only two.” Around 3.4 million people who were previously at “crisis” levels are no longer classified as such, reflecting limited stabilization in parts of Khartoum, Al Jazirah and Sennar, where some families have begun to return.While these gains remain narrow and uneven, and the situation remains dire, “this shows that when we have access and funding, we can reverse famine and improve the situation,” Kinzli added. “The humanitarian response can really make a difference if and when we are able to deliver.”Freddie ClaytonFreddie Clayton is a freelance journalist based in London. 
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Oct. 4, 2025, 5:00 AM EDTBy Sahil KapurWASHINGTON — The federal government remains shut down, with the Senate struggling to find the 60 votes needed to reopen it and no negotiations taking place between the leaders of the two parties.Republicans control the Senate but need at least eight Democratic caucus members to vote with them to overcome a filibuster and end the shutdown. So far, they have just three: Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa.; Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.; and Angus King, I-Maine. The rest are holding firm, so far, as the party demands concessions in the form of health care funding in order to win their votes.Federal government shutdown set to stretch into next week02:19With no serious discussions occurring between Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the spotlight turns to rank-and-file senators who could be key to finding a way to break the impasse.The House, meanwhile, has canceled its session for next week, keeping the focus on the Senate.Here are three key Democratic senators to watch.We’d like to hear from you about how you’re experiencing the government shutdown, whether you’re a federal employee who can’t work right now or someone who is feeling the effects of shuttered services in your everyday life. Please contact us at tips@nbcuni.com or reach out to us here.Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.Shaheen is in a unique position for a variety of reasons. She’s a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, which is tasked with writing government funding bills, and she loathes shutdowns. Shaheen was just one of two Democratic caucus members (along with Sen. Angus King, I-Maine) who voted for the last Republican bill to avoid a government shutdown, which passed in March.She’s also the lead author of the Democratic bill to make permanent the Obamacare subsidies that will expire at the end of this year, the party’s central demand in the current standoff. And she’s retiring at the end of this term, freeing her from political pressure.“There are a lot of people on both sides of the aisle who think we need to address this,” Shaheen said, of the Obamacare subsidies, citing recent polls that show substantial support for extending them to avoid premium hikes. “I think it’s important, and it’s a message to not only our Republican colleagues, but to the White House.”A source who has spoken to Shaheen said she recognizes the headwinds Democrats face as the minority party and has spoken to colleagues in search of the best possible outcomes on a health care solution. The source spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations among senators. Shaheen is seen by Republicans as someone they can deal with; she’s nobody’s idea of a partisan flamethrower. If there’s a deal to break the logjam, it probably runs through her.Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga.Ossoff is the only Democrat running for re-election next year in a state won by President Donald Trump in 2024. The first-term Georgia senator has held his cards close to the vest during the shutdown and has been strategic in his occasional breaks with his party during his Senate career. But in each of the four recent votes on bills to fund the government, he has supported the Democratic plan — which extends Obamacare funding and undoes Medicaid cuts — and opposed the Republican one.Ossoff said his vote is “to keep the government open and to prevent massive increases to Georgians’ health insurance premiums next year.”He faulted Trump for telling Republicans not to negotiate with Democrats, while urging the GOP to “work with us to find a bipartisan path forward and to prevent a massive increase in health insurance premiums for Georgia families.”For now, Trump and Republicans are shouldering more of the blame for the shutdown than Democrats, according to four recent polls. That gives Ossoff some breathing room. But he won’t want to alienate swing voters who may prove crucial to his quest for a second term in an ultra-competitive state.If the public turns on Democrats in the shutdown fight, Ossoff will face immense pressure to flip. If not, it could mean that the GOP strategy of holding out until Democrats feel the heat and cave is failing.Sen. Brian Schatz, D-HawaiiSchatz was one of the 10 key Democrats who voted to drop the filibuster and allow Republicans to pass a six-month government funding bill that prevented a shutdown at the most recent deadline in March. Schatz didn’t vote for the underlying funding bill like Shaheen and King did, but his and other Democrats’ votes to allow Republicans to get around the filibuster provoked a furious response from the liberal base.Schatz is in a unique position as a Schumer deputy who has his finger on the pulse of both the Democratic conference and the party base (including its younger and more online activists). He’s among the limited group of senators who are adept at social media, where much of the debate is taking place. And he’s in pole position to be the next Senate Democratic whip and replace the retiring Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.In the run-up to the current shutdown, Schatz offered “free advice” to Republicans, vowing that “another jam job is not going to work” and that the GOP needs to negotiate with Democrats to achieve a successful product. He made good on that warning.Schatz could be a bellwether for the direction of the caucus and whether a sufficient number of Democrats can accept a bill to reopen the government. If he’s on board, other fence-sitters in the conference may feel more comfortable supporting it.Sahil KapurSahil Kapur is a senior national political reporter for NBC News.
October 26, 2025
Oct. 25, 2025, 6:15 AM EDTBy Liz SzaboJeb Teichman’s phone rang just before midnight. As a pediatrician, he has received many late-night emergency calls.This time, the call was about his 29-year-old son. Brent Teichman had been suffering from the flu for five days. After he began to recover, his symptoms returned with a vengeance, making it difficult to breathe. Teichman, who was out of town, suggested his son visit an urgent care facility. Brent Teichman returned home from the clinic with a prescription for antibiotics and collapsed in bed.When his roommate checked on him a few hours later, Brent Teichman was unconscious. His roommate first called Teichman, then 911. The emergency operator instructed the roommate how to perform CPR. When Teichman called the roommate back, he asked the young man to hold the phone so that he could hear emergency responders trying to save his son. “I could hear the monitors beeping,” Teichman said. Six years after his son’s death, Teichman said, “when I close my eyes at night, I still hear that beeping.”Brent Teichman was 29 when he died in 2019 from flu complications. His father, Dr. Jeb Teichman, said his son’s only risk factor for severe illness was that he didn’t receive a flu shot.Courtesy the subjectAlthough Teichman has retired, he said he is still trying to save lives. He has joined the board of a nonprofit group called Families Fighting Flu, made up of people who have lost loved ones to the illness. As misinformation spreads on social media, Teichman and other health advocates are reminding people of basic facts about the flu.Based on wastewater samples, the current flu season hasn’t taken off yet in the U.S., although once it does, it spreads rapidly across the country, Alexandria Boehm, program director of WastewaterSCAN, a nonprofit monitoring network and a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, said. “Once it starts in one state it starts everywhere at the same time,” she said. “It’s not a slow wave.” With flu, wastewater levels match what’s happening in the community, she said. Last year, influenza took off in mid-December and lasted through mid-April. Flu season typically peaks around February, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, although the influenza virus can continue circulating through May.The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends vaccinating children against flu as soon as shots are available in late summer or fall, said Dr. Kristina Bryant, a member of the academy’s committee on infectious diseases and an author of its flu shot recommendations. Most kids only need one flu shot a year. Babies and children between the ages of 6 months and 8 years old getting vaccinated against flu for the first time, or who have only had one lifetime dose before the current flu season, need two shots, four weeks apart. So it’s especially important for infants and children to start the process early, in order to be fully protected by the time flu begins to circulate. In adults, immunity provided by flu vaccines can wane over time. So adults who get their flu shots very early — such as in August or early September — may lose some of that protection toward the end of flu season, said Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease physician and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Adalja recommends adults get their flu shots by late October in order to be protected by the beginning of flu season, which can vary depending on where you live. Flu vaccines are safeFlu vaccines and their ingredients are rigorously tested and found to be very safe. Over the past 50 years, hundreds of millions of Americans have safely received flu shots.“Really, these are extremely safe vaccines,” said Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, a professor at the Fielding School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles. “There’s nothing people need to be alarmed about.”The most common side effect of flu shots is a sore arm, Adalja said.Some people worry that flu shots increase the risk of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a serious but rare disorder in which the immune system attacks nerve cells, causing muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis. The actual risk from current flu shots is very low, with one to two additional cases of the syndrome for every million doses of vaccine, according to the CDC.It’s important to note that viruses also can cause the syndrome, Adalja said. In fact, people have a higher risk of developing the syndrome from flu than from the vaccine.Fears of Guillain-Barre syndrome stem from a 1976 outbreak of swine flu, in which 45 million Americans received a new vaccine. That flu shot caused one additional case of Guillain-Barre for every 100,000 people vaccinated.Flu vaccines save livesFlu vaccination prevented 9.8 million illnesses; 4.8 million medical visits; 120,000 hospitalizations; and 7,900 deaths during the 2023-2024 season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Yet, only 32% of people hospitalized for flu last year had been vaccinated, according to the CDC.Last season’s flu shot reduced the risk of testing positive for flu during an outpatient visit by 56%. Although people who are vaccinated sometimes still get infected with flu, their illness tends to be much milder compared to people who aren’t vaccinated, Adalja said. While they’re not perfect, flu vaccines can reduce the risk of infection and make people less contagious, at least for part of the flu season. Flu shots “do provide some level of protection to close contacts for a period of time,” Adalja said.Flu vaccines tend to be less protective than other vaccines for multiple reasons, Adalja said. First, flu viruses themselves change every year, which means the vaccine needs to change, as well. Because flu shots take several months to produce, vaccine makers need to begin production in the spring, long before flu season begins. Manufacturers in the United States select which viral strain to include in fall vaccines based on the influenza strains circulating in the Southern Hemisphere, Kim-Farley said. This year’s flu shots protect against three strains of influenza, including two types of influenza A and one type of influenza B.Flu shots don’t cause fluInjectable flu shots are made with pieces of the flu virus, Adalja said. These pieces stimulate the immune system to make protective antibodies in order to combat any flu viruses that enter the body.Nasal flu vaccines, which are approved for people 2 through 49, contain live viruses that have been weakened to prevent them from causing the flu, Bryant said.Because the virus is live, it can cause mild symptoms, including a fever over 100 degrees in children ages 2 through 6; a runny nose and nasal congestion in people ages 2 through 49; and a sore throat in adults ages 18 through 49.People can now order the intranasal flu vaccine online and use it at home.Flu vaccines take 2 weeks for full protectionSome people who develop symptoms such as a fever or cough after receiving their flu vaccines assume their flu shot was ineffective. But because it takes the immune system about two weeks to make antibodies against the influenza virus, it can take two weeks for people to be fully protected, Banks said.Meanwhile, there are dozens of viruses and bacteria that can cause flu-like symptoms — such as fever, chills, cough, body aches and headaches — including enterovirus, parainfluenza and more.Flu shots can be safely given with other vaccines“Extensive testing is required for every vaccine, and we have a lot of research showing that getting multiple vaccines at the same time is safe,” Bryant said. “What happens when we delay or we space out vaccines is that we’re really just increasing the amount of time that children remain vulnerable to infection.”Some parents worry that multiple vaccines given in one visit overwhelm a baby’s immune system. But babies and young children are exposed to as many as 6,000 viruses, bacteria and other substances that stimulate the immune system — known as antigens — in a single day. In comparison, the entire pediatric immunization schedule exposes them to 165 antigens, Bryant said.Pediatricians and health officials recommend grouping vaccinations together because it’s more convenient for parents to bring a baby to a clinic once, rather than multiple times, Kim-Farley said. Children are more likely to receive all recommended vaccines if they are given multiple shots in one visit.Some parents fear that giving the flu shot in combination with other vaccines causes their children excess stress. In fact, a study examining stress hormone levels in infants found no difference in stress levels between babies who received one vaccine compared to those who received several. Spacing out vaccines increases a child’s total stress by causing them to receive injections on multiple days.Flu vaccines don’t contain harmful ingredientsContrary to what is shared on social media, flu vaccines do not contain fetal cells, blood products, human DNA, soy, gluten, latex or microchips.Vaccines have five major ingredients: antigens, which are viral proteins or sugars that stimulate the immune system to make protective antibodies; adjuvants, which boost the immune response; stabilizers, which keep the vaccine stable over time; preservatives, which prevent the growth of fungi and bacteria; and residual byproducts.Some flu shots contain dead or weakened viruses as antigens. Others have only viral proteins. Although some flu vaccines grown in eggs have traces of residual egg protein, the amount is so minuscule that most people with egg allergies can still safely be vaccinated.Flu shots do not contain aluminum, used in trace amounts in some shots, such as hepatitis and pneumococcal vaccines, to help generate a strong immune response.Although President Donald Trump has called for removing aluminum from vaccines, studies show that the tiny amounts of aluminum in vaccines do not cause harm. In fact, babies consume more aluminum from breastmilk or formula than vaccines.Some social media influencers have expressed concerns about preservatives in vaccines. A CDC advisory committee in June recommended removing a preservative called thimerosal from vaccines. But that wasn’t a major change; flu vaccines in prefilled syringes are already thimerosal-free. Thimerosal was only used in multidose vials of vaccines — which account for only about 4% of flu shots — as a way to prevent dangerous bacteria and fungi, Adalja said.Although studies show that thimerosal isn’t harmful — and doesn’t cause autism — manufacturers took the preservative out of routine pediatric vaccinations in 1999. Most flu shots don’t contain adjuvants; the one exception is a flu shot designed for people older than 65, whose immune systems need an extra boost, which uses a non-aluminum adjuvant.Dr. Virginia Banks, an infectious disease specialist in Youngstown, Ohio, said she recently opted for a vaccine recommended for people older than 65.“I’m way over 65, but I look in the mirror and I think to myself, ‘You don’t need that,’” she said. “But then I realize, ‘Yeah, yeah you do.’”The flu is not just a bad coldEven during relatively mild flu seasons, thousands of Americans die from the virus.Flu season was particularly brutal last year, sickening at least 47 million Americans, hospitalizing 610,000 and killing 27,000, according to the CDC. Those deaths included 281 children, the largest number of pediatric deaths in 15 years, when the world was hit by the H1N1 pandemic, according to the CDC. Of the children who died from flu last year, 89% were unvaccinated or weren’t full vaccinated, compared to 82% during the 2023-2024 flu season.Last season’s flu also led 109 children to develop a rare, severe neurologic complication called influenza-associated encephalopathy, which can cause altered mental status and seizures. Nineteen percent of affected children died, according to the CDC.Research shows that Black people have the highest flu-related hospitalization rates, followed by Native American people and Hispanic people.Racial and ethnic disparities are greatest among children; rates of severe outcomes, such as hospitalization and death, are up to four times higher among racial and ethnic minority children under age 4 compared to white children. People from racial and ethnic minority communities are also less likely to be completely vaccinated against the flu.How much do flu shots cost without insurance?Children can be vaccinated for free through the federal Vaccines for Children program.The Affordable Care Act requires that commercial insurance plans provide flu shots for free. People can also get free flu shots through Medicare, Medicaid or the Veterans Health Administration. Without insurance, a flu shot can cost $20 to $130 out of pocket. Many adults without insurance can receive free or reduced-cost flu shots at federally qualified health centers or public health departments. Young, healthy adults and children die of the flu every yearAlthough infants, older adults, pregnant women and people with chronic illnesses have the highest risk of hospitalization or death from the flu, the virus can also kill healthy people, often by causing pneumonia. Forty-four percent of children who died from influenza were previously healthy.The CDC recommends flu shots for everyone older than 6 months old. Vaccinating pregnant women against the flu helps protect both prospective mothers, as well as their infants, at least for the first few months of life.Fewer Americans are getting flu shotsFlu vaccination rates have fallen since 2020, caught up in a post-pandemic backlash against vaccines, as well as the mistaken belief that influenza isn’t a serious threat, research suggests.The percentage of American adults who report having received or planning to receive a flu shot dropped from 60% in 2020 to 54% in 2024. Vaccination rates have fallen among children, as well, dropping from 64% in 2019-2020 to 49% in 2024-2025.“People have been told to get Covid shots and RSV shots and flu shots, and people are just a little bit vaccine fatigued,” Banks said.Low vaccination rates may have contributed to the severity of last year’s flu season, in which influenza-related hospitalization rates were the highest since 2010-2011.Teichman said his son’s only risk factor for severe illness was that he hadn’t received a flu shot.Teichman said he and his wife, Grace, a retired nurse, “reminded Brent to get his flu shot a couple of weeks before his passing. He said he had it on to-do list, but he just never got around to it.”Liz SzaboLiz Szabo is an independent health and science journalist. Her work has won multiple national awards. One of her investigations led to a new state law in Virginia.Jane Weaver contributed.
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