Sanofi, GSK and Seqirus prep for near-record flu shot sales as COVID's delta variant cooks up 'recipe for disaster'

If there was one pleasant surprise buried in last year’s pandemic havoc, it was that the flu season was remarkably muted. It turns out the measures to thwart COVID-19, like mask-wearing and social distancing, work wonders against the annual bug, too.

But the medical community's flu-fighters were equipped with another weapon that the COVID arsenal didn't have till December: a vaccine. Better equipped than ever, in fact. Flu shot makers delivered a record 194 million doses to the U.S. last season as public health experts warned against the dreaded overlap between the two pathogens. Flu vaccine demand skyrocketed.