PROBABLY IN PART A SIDE-EFFECT OF AN AGING POPULATION. ALSO, THE FLU SHOT WAS PRETTY CRAPPY LAST YEAR. 80,000 died of the flu last winter in the U.S., the highest death count in decades. On the other hand, there’s this: “CDC officials do not have exact counts of how many people die from flu each year. Flu is so common that not all flu cases are reported, and flu is not always listed on death certificates. So the CDC uses statistical models, which are periodically revised, to make estimates.”