There's a mismatch in this year's flu shot

This year’s flu season was been projected to be one of the worst in decades due to the early activity of influenza B, a strain of the virus that’s typically more prevalent at the end of the season. Children are particularly susceptible to it. So far this season, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tallied 39 child deaths -- 28 of which are linked to the influenza B virus. Overall, the CDC estimates that since the season began on September 29, there have been at least 13 million cases of the flu, 120,000 hospitalizations and 6,600 deaths.

Contributing to the season’s severity is a mismatch in this year’s flu shot. "It's not an awful match, but it's not a very good match,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. According to the CDC, the vaccine is a 58% match for influenza B. That means if your child is exposed to it and they’ve had the flu shot this season, there's a 58% chance that their flu shot will protect against it. But, that means there's a 42% chance the vaccine won't match and it won’t prevent them from getting the flu.

That doesn’t mean the flu shot won’t help. It can still help protect your kids from getting so sick that they develop life-threatening complications. And it’s also a very good match for another strain -- H1N1 -- a strain of the flu virus that is active right now.