The CDC claims that 80,000 people died from the flu, or complications of flu, last year. This number is the highest number in over four decades.
Dr. Robert Redfield, director of CDC, made the big reveal last Tuesday night while speaking to The Associated Press.
Some health experts were utterly shocked by the assessment.
“That’s huge,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University vaccine expert, per Fox32 Chicago.
The grandiose numbers, clearly intended to terrify the nation, have been released in the most convenient and opportune time. The flu shot push is now in full motion as kids are going back to school. But the fear mongering won’t just extend to children, it will also be a pervasive annoyance for everyday people in the workforce who are annually hassled over flu shots.
Most years, flu shot tallies are around the 12,000 mark. 56,000 was the most recent bad year.
But how the CDC designates “flu complications” is often called into question. If the stringency over the term was lessened, that could have easily contributed to inflated stats.