Correction: This story has been updated to indicate that Patricia A. Stinchfield said 105 U.S. children died of influenza last year.
Federal health officials Thursday urged Americans to get vaccinated before flu season starts in October, and released data showing fewer Michigan residents got flu shots last year than the national average.
About 46.8 percent of Americans six months or older got flu shots during the 2016-2017 flu season, compared to 44.2 percent in Michigan, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Among children, ages 6 months to 17 years old, 59 percent were vaccinated nationally compared to 55.7 percent in Michigan.
At a press event Thursday in Washington, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Dr. Thomas E. Price got one of the shots that protects against the contagious respiratory virus that comes with coughs, sneezing, fever, body aches and fatigue.
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