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Americans urged to get flu shots after last year’s 80,000 death toll reported

Eighty thousand people died from the flu last year โ€” that’s more than the number of people killed in car accidents, gun violence, or opioid overdoses. Theย Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging people to get flu shots early this year, especially those who are vulnerable or those with weakened immune systems including pregnant women, children, and older adults. The new data comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which said last year was the deadliest flu season in more than four decades. Flu experts knew it was going to be a bad season, but the tally was nearly twice the estimate health officials originally projected. The high mortality rate last winter was driven by a type of flu that tends to land more people in the hospital and cause more deaths. Making the situation worse, the flu vaccine didn’t work very well. Despite the limitations of…