What is the Wild to Mild campaign?

The CDC’s Wild to Mild initiative, launched at the start of the 2023–24 flu season, aimed to inform the public that while getting immunized against the flu doesn’t guarantee you won’t catch an influenza virus, it can protect you from severe illness, hospitalization, and death. With the catchphrase “A flu vaccine can take flu from wild to mild,” the campaign’s marketing materials featured hulking, wild animals juxtaposed against domesticated, sometimes stuffed, counterparts, such as a blowfish versus a goldfish. Wild to Mild targeted high-risk groups in particular, including children and pregnant people, whose vaccination rates had suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Why did the CDC get rid of its Wild to Mild campaign?

The CDC, part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), ditched the campaign Feb. 19, 2025, as first reported by NPR. That is, six days after the Senate confirmed outspoken vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as President Donald Trump’s health secretary. National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases leaders broke the news to CDC staff following an HHS review of the campaign, NPR reported.

Why is this flu season so bad?

It’s no coincidence that the intense 2024–25 season corresponds to low flu vaccine uptake, says Dr. Robert Hopkins Jr., medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. Ideally, under the CDC’s Healthy People initiative, at least 70% of the U.S. population would have been vaccinated by now. Yet less than half of adults (45%) and children (46%) had been immunized as of the week ended Feb. 8. Meanwhile, laboratory-confirmed flu cases reached a season-high positivity rate of 31.6%.

How many people have had the flu this year?

During the 2024–25 season alone, the flu has contributed to 29 million illnesses, 370,000 hospitalizations, and 16,000 deaths, nearly 70 of them children, the CDC says. As of the week ended Feb. 8, the agency has classified the current season as a high-severity season for all age groups—for the first time since 2017–18.

Is February too late to get the flu shot?

Spring may be on the horizon, but there’s still time to protect yourself. “If you have not already received your flu shot, I would strongly encourage you to get vaccinated,” Dr. Robert Hopkins Jr., medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, urges. “It is not too late to reduce your risk for influenza and influenza-related complications.”

Is the flu vaccine safe?

Immunization not only saves lives but also eases the burden on the nation’s health care system. During the 2023–24 season, the CDC says the flu vaccine prevented 9.8 million illnesses, 4.8 million medical visits, 120,000 hospitalizations, and 7,900 deaths.

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Amid worst U.S. flu season in decades, RFK Jr.–led CDC pulls vaccine campaign

BYLindsey Leake

A clinician administers a vaccine to a middle-aged man

The CDC halted its Wild to Mild flu vaccine campaign on Feb. 19, 2025, in the middle of one of the worst U.S. flu seasons in nearly 30 years.

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