COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Flu season isn’t over yet, but preliminary numbers show that the current flu outbreak has been one of the state’s worst in several years.

The Post and Courier of Charleston reports that 254 South Carolinians have died in the current flu season. That’s nearly three times as many as the previous season and more than five times as many as the 2015-16 flu season.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the vaccine was only about 36 percent effective. Most providers say the vaccine still lessened the effects of vaccinated patients who got the flu, but a particular strain of flu — H3N2 — had particularly nasty symptoms that have been hard to guard against, even with the vaccine.

The flu season began in October and runs through May.

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Information from: The Post and Courier, http://www.postandcourier.com