Syracuse, NY — Onondaga County’s top public health doctor is worried that many fewer county residents are getting their seasonal flu shot this year amid skepticism over vaccines.

The controversy surrounding vaccines has reached perhaps the most routine shot of them all: the flu shot. That’s even though there remains no federal pushback to the flu shot, unlike annual Covid boosters, said Dr. Kathryn Anderson, the county health commissioner.

More than half of Americans typically get the seasonal flu vaccine, according to federal data. But that rate has been creeping down since the Covid pandemic.

This year, only 27% of Onondaga County residents have gotten the flu vaccine so far, according to state data . In previous years, more than 40% had gotten their shot by this point, indicating a

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