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Fall has only just begun, but it's already time to start thinking about the quintessential winter bug: the flu. The annual flu season usually starts in October or November. But this year, it looks like the flu started to pick up in early September. (Stein, 10/7)

Flu activity in California began rising in September, months earlier than usual, prompting state health officials to urge residents to get vaccinated now. (Ho, 10/6)

A single dose of a new nasal spray influenza vaccine can breathe new life into older lungs while providing broad protection against multiple influenza strains, researchers reported. (Hille, 10/6)

The Trump administration told a federal appeals panel Tuesday that a lower court erred in blocking Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s handpicked appointees from serving on a key vaccine advisory panel. Justice Department attorney Matthew Zorn told the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that a district court judge did not have the authority to suspend Kennedy’s appointments to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).  Zorn said the practical effect of the lower court’s ruling is that ACIP has been blocked from meeting in any capacity. (Weixel, 10/6)

Florida schools and daycares may soon end requirements for four childhood vaccines, after the state department of health holds a hearing on the matter Thursday. The idea to relax these rules came from Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, who has advocated for parental choice and medical freedom, and likened all vaccine mandates to “slavery.” (Sheridan, 10/7)