It’s been a brutal flu season. Rates of hospitalizations and outpatient visits for influenza are at a 15-year high, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Data to date suggests the season has peaked; however, flu-related medical visits, hospitalizations, and deaths remain elevated, and the CDC expects several more weeks of above-average flu activity.

“This flu season was life-changing for us,” she said. “It was scary. There was so many machines he was hooked up to. At one point, he was on 11 different IVs.” After falling ill in ...