November 13, 2025- As flu season gets underway, global health experts are increasingly worried about a new strain of the virus that popped up in June — four months after the makeup of this year’s flu shots had been decided, according to NBC News. The new strain, a version of H3N2, is causing outbreaks in Canada and the U.K. Cases in the U.K. are already triple from the same time last year, and cases in Japan have surged to nearly six times from last year, according to KFF Health News. In the U.S., experts warn of uncertainty because the CDC has not released a national flu report since Sept. 26 due to the government shutdown.