Girl, 11, is the latest to die from flu after parents turned down vaccine over fears of side effects

Savannah Hyden went into cardiac arrest as a result of complications from the flu

Her parents decided to not get her vaccinated out of fear of side-effects

Hyden had no health insurance

Hyden is just the latest in the growing number of flu-related deaths

An 11-year-old Tennessee girl died earlier this week of complications from the flu just three days after contracting the potentially deadly virus.



The death of Savannah Hyden is just the latest in a growing number of flu-related deaths that has health officials worried.

Hyden died about 5 p.m. Wednesday at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital near Vanderbilt University near Nashvilled. According to her parents, the girl had not been given a flu vaccine this year.



Tragic: Savannah Hayden is the latest child to do die from complications related to the flu

Fear: Hyden's mother, Natasha Renee Fiser, said she didn't get the girl vaccinated out of fear over potential side effects

'She was brilliant in every aspect,' her father, Steven Hyden, told the Tennessean. 'We have really taken a big loss. ... She could have been the president.'

Hayden's mother, Natasha Renee Fiser, told the paper that her daughter developed a bacterial infection after contracting the flu. The infection caused the girl to go into cardiac arrest.



'She was down for too long, there was no oxygen to her brain, and her organs just started shutting down,' Fiser said.

Fiser says she was shocked that her daughter got sick and then three days later was put on life support.



'Brilliant': Hyden's father describes his daughter as a brilliant girl who loved art, particularly glass-blowing

Hayden's parents say they declined to get their daughter vaccinated because they were worried about the potential side effects sometimes caused by the vaccine.



'You only think [vaccines] for the weak and the elderly — those that don’t have the immunity to fight it off,' Fiser said. 'You would never imagine that a healthy child really would need the flu shot at all.'

Hayden, the girl's parents admit, did not have health insurance.



According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, everyone over six months old - with a few exceptions - should get a flu shot. People who worry about the side effects can ask to get a preservative-free form of the vaccine.

Forms of flu strains often change, but this year's strain is H1N1, which first emerged in the U.S. in 2009. In the 2009-2010 flu season, 12,000 people died from the virus - or complications caused by the disease - across the U.S.

In Nashville, at least 10 people have been killed by the flu so far this year.