U.S. flu shot is different this year because one strain has faded during the COVID pandemc

The flu shot is different this year, thanks to COVID A strain of influenza appears to have disappeared from the planet since COVID. As a result, U.S. flu vaccines have been redesigned. NPR

This year’s flu shot will be missing a strain of influenza it’s protected against for more than a decade.

That’s because there have been no confirmed flu cases caused by the Influenza B/Yamagata lineage since spring 2020. And the Food and Drug Administration decided this year that the strain now poses little to no threat to human health.

Scientists have concluded that widespread physical distancing and masking practiced during the early days of COVID-19 appear to have pushed B/Yamagata into oblivion.

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