Health officials are urging parents to get their children vaccinated for the flu in the wake of a child’s death in Florida.

The Florida Department of Health announced this week that a 4-year-old became the first person to die of the flu this season. Officials say the child was otherwise healthy, but never received the vaccine.

Dr. Kerry Fierstein, of Pediatric Health Associates in Plainview, says she hears some parents say that they “don’t believe in the flu shot.”

“Well, I ask them, ‘Do you believe in the flu?’ Because the best prevention, really the only prevention, is the flu shot,” she says.

Doctors at Nassau University Medical Center say the flu vaccine is a good idea for people of all different ages. Dr. Paul Pipia, the hospital’s acting president and CEO, points to a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It finds that during last flu season, there were an estimated 900,000 hospitalizations in the U.S., with 80,000 deaths. 

Nassau University Medical Center personnel will be administering free flu vaccines at various senior centers throughout the county.