Introduction:

Influenza epidemics are of higher risk at the extremes of life and in people with comorbidities. Effective vaccination prevents the occurrence of serious cases and decreases mortality.

Objective:

To describe deaths from influenza with a history of timely vaccination, from the 2010 to the 2018 season in Mexico.

Method:

Cross-sectional, descriptive study where the Influenza Epidemiological Surveillance System database was used.

Results:

From 2010 to 2018, 65 vaccinated individuals died from influenza, from which 55% of cases (n = 36) were due to type A (H1N1), 51% (n = 33) were females, median age was 57 years, 21 % (n = 14) did not meet the operational definition of influenza-like illness or severe acute respiratory infection, 83% (n = 54) had at least one comorbidity, with the most common being diabetes mellitus and hypertension (32% each); 55% (n = 36) of deaths received antiviral treatment and only 8% (n = 5) had no comorbidities and received treatment with oseltamivir.

Conclusions:

Deaths from influenza with timely vaccination represent a very low percentage of the totality. Vaccination against influenza has been a specific prevention strategy that decreases disease burden.