--- title: CDC: Flu Reaches Epidemic Levels With 15 Child Deaths description: This season's flu strain has mutated and made vaccines less effective canonical: https://time.com/3651142/flu-influenza-cdc-epidemic/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-31T16:31:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:12:49.478Z article:section: Health og:title: CDC: Flu Reaches Epidemic Levels With 15 Child Deaths og:description: This season's flu strain has mutated and made vaccines less effective og:url: https://time.com/3651142/flu-influenza-cdc-epidemic/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd67ffddfabf8ac96/698777c32dce016afe9dcb97/462668573.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Flu Outbreak Continues In Bay Area og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: CDC: Flu Reaches Epidemic Levels With 15 Child Deaths twitter:description: This season's flu strain has mutated and made vaccines less effective twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd67ffddfabf8ac96/698777c32dce016afe9dcb97/462668573.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Flu Becomes an Epidemic in the U.S. With 15 Child Deaths  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Dec 31, 2014 4:31 PM UTC  A syringe filled with influenza vaccination is seen at a Walgreens Pharmacy on January 14, 2014 in Concord, California. A syringe filled with influenza vaccination is seen at a Walgreens Pharmacy on January 14, 2014 in Concord, California.Justin Sullivan—Getty Images  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Dec 31, 2014 4:31 PM UTC The flu virus has officially reached epidemic levels in the United States, according to [the latest data](http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/summary.htm) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Influenza has become widespread in 36 states, and almost 7% of all deaths in the U.S. during the week of Dec. 15 were due to pneumonia and influenza, the CDC [said](http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/summary.htm). Officials calculate that a total of 15 children have now died over the course of this flu season. The CDC continues to recommend flu vaccinations for anyone over the age of six months even though this year’s strain has mutated rendering the vaccine less effective than public health officials had hoped. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3651142/flu-influenza-cdc-epidemic/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3651142/flu-influenza-cdc-epidemic/"},"headline":"Flu Becomes an Epidemic in the U.S. With 15 Child Deaths","datePublished":"2014-12-31T16:31:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:12:49.478Z","description":"This season's flu strain has mutated and made vaccines less effective","url":"https://time.com/3651142/flu-influenza-cdc-epidemic/","keywords":["Infectious Disease"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd67ffddfabf8ac96/698777c32dce016afe9dcb97/462668573.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd67ffddfabf8ac96/698777c32dce016afe9dcb97/462668573.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Flu Outbreak Continues In Bay Area","caption":"Flu Outbreak Continues In Bay Area","creditText":"Justin Sullivan—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/infectious-disease/","name":"Infectious Disease"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3651142/flu-influenza-cdc-epidemic/","name":"Flu Becomes an Epidemic in the U.S. With 15 Child Deaths"}}]}] ```