Hidalgo County’s top doctor is warning the public that two people have died from the flu so far this year.

The dead were identified as a 6-year-old child and someone who was over the age of 50. Neither of them were vaccinated against the flu, according to Hidalgo County Health Authority Dr. Ivan Melendez. 

Melendez added that there are currently 20 people in the hospital with the flu, two of who are in the ICU.

Melendez said he’s seen healthy people having to be mechanically intubated on ventilators due to flu-related complications. According to Melendez, many people in the Rio Grande Valley suffer from many illnesses that put them more at risk of complications with the flu.

"In our particular part of the country, because of our immunodeficiency based on obesity, diabetes and hypertension, it's certainly an issue because those people that die, are those people who are not vaccinated.”

Melendez says only 20% percent of people in Hidalgo County have gotten the flu shot this season.

You can find free or low cost flu vaccines at your local pharmacy.