BMJ. 2005 Dec 10; 331(7529): 1412.
Are US flu death figures more PR than science?
The deaths to flu were not high enough in the US for the CDC (and others) to convince anybody to want to get a 'flu vaccine";
Therefore, the CDC changed how they counted fle deaths to include 'flu related' deaths which bumped the number significantly.
At the same time, CDC, and other 'concerned parties' began campaigns to promote vaccines.
It's all about the vaccines!
Peter Doshi, graduate student
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1309667/
Preceding the summit, demand had been low early into the 2003 flu season. “At that point, the manufacturers were telling us that they weren't receiving a lot of orders for vaccine for use in November or even December,” recalled Dr Nowak on National Public Radio. “It really did look like we needed to do something to encourage people to get a flu shot.”
If flu is in fact not a major cause of death, this public relations approach is surely exaggerated. Moreover, by arbitrarily linking flu with pneumonia, current data are statistically biased. Until corrected and until unbiased statistics are developed, the chances for sound discussion and public health policy are limited.