The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued recommendations on Thursday that nearly all Americans over 6 months old get an updated COVID-19 and flu shot this fall.
The CDC said that as soon as updated COVID-19 shots from Moderna, Novavax and Pfizer are available later this year, the public should get an updated vaccine, regardless of past vaccination status.
Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration provided updated guidance for COVID-19 vaccine makers, calling for them to formulate a shot that better targets more recent strains of the virus. The FDA said that fall 2024 COVID-19 vaccines should target the KP.2 variant of the virus, which is a descendant of the JN.1 variant that widely circulated throughout the U.S. during the winter.
Related story: COVID cases on the rise in 39 states, marking the start of an anticipated summer surge
Additionally, the CDC said that updated flu shots should be sought in September or October for most people. Pregnant people who are in their third trimester and children who need two doses of the flu vaccine could get a flu vaccine sooner. The CDC also said some people who are unable to get vaccinated in September or October should consider getting an updated flu vaccine as soon as it becomes available.
Our top recommendation for protecting yourself and your loved ones from respiratory illness is to get vaccinated, said Dr. Mandy Cohen, director of the CDC. Make a plan now for you and your family to get both updated flu and COVID vaccines this fall, ahead of the respiratory virus season.
It's important for everyone 6 months old and older to get vaccinated against influenza (the flu) yearly. The flu infected as many as 31 million people in the U.S. during the 2022-2023 flu season. The flu vaccine is highly effective and safe but may cause mild side effects like pain, swelling, or redness where the shot was given. These side effects typically go away within a few days.
Other side effects can include aches and pains, dizziness, and mild fever. You can typically relieve flu shot side effects using a pain reliever. Read on to learn about the common flu vaccine side effects and when to get vaccinated.
Flu shots have been around since the 1930s and are considered extremely safe and effective. Most side effects of the flu vaccine are mild and go away within a few days.
All vaccines can cause side effects, and most of these symptoms are entirely normal. Side effects are basically telling you that your immune system is working. The immune cells are rushing to where the vaccine was injected to react to it.
The standard-dose flu shot for people ages 6 months to 64 years old contains an inactivated (killed) flu virus. The most common side effects from this vaccine include pain, swelling, or redness where the shot was given. Other side effects can include aches and pains, dizziness, and mild fever.
These side effects can occur from any injected vaccine, meaning your immune system has been activated. Not having these side effects doesn't mean your immune system isn't responding to the shot. Reactions vary from person to person.
There's always a small percentage of people who have a headache and muscle aches or pains the next day. These aches and pains typically develop on the day you receive the flu shot and go away a few days after.
Taking a pain reliever, such as Advil (ibuprofen) or Tylenol (acetaminophen), can ease discomfort. Some evidence suggests that pain relievers may impact how your body responds to the flu vaccine. Keep in mind that the data is inconclusive, and it's not clear whether you can't take pain relievers.
Some people can feel dizzy or faint after getting a flu vaccine. Talk to a healthcare provider before they administer the vaccine. They may recommend that you have a snack or sit down after you receive the vaccine.
You may develop a mild fever after getting a flu shot, but it's uncommon to have a high fever. A fever typically goes away within a few days and can be treated with Advil or Tylenol.
Almost everybody gets a sore arm after getting a flu shot. You might also notice redness, swelling, and warmth at the injection site. These side effects are usually gone after a few hours, but some people still have them the next day or two. Taking Advil or Tylenol can treat an injection site reaction.
Severe side effects from the flu vaccine are very rare. However, some people can develop an uncommon neurological disease called Guillain-Barr syndrome (GBS) or a severe allergic reaction.
One rare side effect is GBS, which is a neurological disease that causes muscle weakness and paralysis. These symptoms, which typically worsen within a few hours, involve both sides of the body. You might require breathing assistance if GBS affects the nerves of the chest and diaphragm, or the muscle under the lungs.
Other GBS symptoms include:
GBS develops after one or two out of every million vaccine doses. Some evidence suggests that the risk of GBS is actually higher after getting the flu than it is from getting the vaccine.
Severe allergic reactions are extremely rare, affecting fewer than one or two in one million people. Signs of a severe allergic reaction can include:
These symptoms generally develop within hours of receiving the vaccine. Call 911 or contact a healthcare provider right away any time someone experiences such symptoms.
Several different kinds of flu vaccines are offered each year. What vaccine you get depends greatly on your age and other factors, such as health conditions and allergies.
The vaccine may be given by injection or nasal spray. Special dosages are available for the youngest and oldest recipients. The vaccine can also be made using an inactivated (killed) virus or an attenuated (weakened but live) virus.
Not all flu vaccines are made the same way or intended for the same people, even though they offer the same protection. The side effects of flu shots may also be slightly different.
Two different vaccines are made specifically for people aged 65 and older. One shot contains the exact same dose of antigen as the injection for younger adults with the addition of an adjuvant. The other shot is a high-dose version of the vaccine, with four times the amount of antigen.
An antigen is the part of the virus that triggers the immune response. An adjuvant is an ingredient added to help spark a stronger immune response.
The common side effects are the same for all inactivated flu vaccines, regardless of the vaccine: sore arm, perhaps some muscle pain, or a mild fever. All injectables have similar side effects. The rare serious side effects are also the same.
The nasal spray vaccine is available for non-pregnant people aged 2 to 49 who don't have serious, underlying illnesses. It's primarily used in children, but some adults decide they'd rather skip the needle if they can.
This vaccine isn't just an inhaled version of the injectable. It contains a weakened, not killed, version of the flu virus to stimulate the immune system. The nasal spray vaccine doesn't cause the flu since the virus is specially engineered not to multiply once it's exposed to slightly higher temperatures inside the body.
The most common side effects include:
Children may also experience wheezing, vomiting, muscle aches, sore throat, and low-grade fever. These side effects are typically mild and don't last long after vaccination.
Most flu vaccines are made using eggs to grow the vaccine cells. Experts advise that people who have had allergic reactions to eggs receive a flu vaccine under the watch of a healthcare provider who can detect and handle severe allergic reactions.
People who have had severe allergic reactions to egg-based flu vaccines are advised against receiving them in the future. You can likely still receive one of the two flu vaccines that are not made using eggs. It's still important to receive the vaccines under the supervision of a healthcare provider. They can discern and manage severe allergic reactions.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises getting a flu vaccine in September or October to prepare for flu season. The vaccine can still protect you if you get it after October. A flu shot is effective for one year, so it's important to get a new one before each flu season.
Some people may need to get a flu shot early, like in July or August, such as:
Getting a flu shot can mean you have to endure an achy arm for a few hours. Some people may also experience side effects like headaches, nausea, and mild fever. Severe side effects, including GBS and severe allergic reactions, are rare.
The side effects of flu shots are mild and fleeting for most people. The risk of these side effects generally outweighs a case of the flu, which can lead to serious complications. Talk to a healthcare provider if you meet the criteria for a high-dose vaccine, nasal spray, or egg-free option. They can help determine what vaccine to get and when.
By Eleanor Laise
Health officials are ramping up their response to H5N1 - but this is not COVID 2.0, experts say
The race to contain the bird flu kicked into a higher gear this week, as federal and state officials announced new measures designed to ensure the multistate outbreak among dairy cattle doesn't become a flu pandemic.
Public-health officials in recent days have unveiled more detailed plans to ensure availability of effective vaccines and treatments, step up scrutiny of dairy products, and other measures. The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, an office within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, earlier this week released a pandemic-flu strategy - outlining steps such as boosting testing speed and access and encouraging the development of vaccines that can quickly tackle new virus strains. The Food and Drug Administration, meanwhile, this week announced expanded efforts to test dairy products for H5N1, the bird-flu strain currently circulating in dairy cattle.
Those steps come as bird flu affects a growing number of dairy herds. The virus was confirmed this week in seven additional herds in three states -Colorado, Idaho and Iowa - bringing the total to well over 100 herds in a dozen states, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Three U.S. human bird-flu cases have been reported in recent months, all of them tied to dairy-cow exposure.
While H5N1 has been known to circulate among wild birds for decades, infectious-disease experts have raised alarms about its more recent spread among a growing number of mammal species - and particularly dairy cows that have constant contact with humans. Every time an avian virus infects a mammal, it has the opportunity to evolve and become even better at infecting mammals, said Andrew Pekosz, a professor in the department of molecular microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Each time, "the virus rolls the dice and may come up double sixes in terms of acquiring those mutations that would make it adapt to a new host" and transmit more easily, Pekosz said.
Although the risk to the general public remains low, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it's clear that public-health officials are more vigilant than ever. Here's what you need to know about the current state of H5N1 and testing, vaccines and treatments for the disease - and the steps you can take to protect yourself.
1. This is not a COVID rerun
First, the good news: In some ways, we're better off than we were at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, infectious-disease experts say.
Unlike the onset of COVID-19, H5N1 is not new to us - public-health officials have been tracking and studying it for decades. The federal government already has some vaccines on hand that are well matched to the currently circulating strain, and available flu antivirals such as Tamiflu are thought to be effective against H5N1.
Now for the bad news: The U.S. is still not as prepared as it should be for a potential pandemic, some experts say, as the H5N1 response relies partly on the voluntary efforts of dairy farms to help monitor and contain the spread of the virus. More than 60% of farms continued to move animals off the farm after the onset of clinical signs of bird flu, according to a recent USDA report, raising concerns about disease transmission.
Globally, the death rate among people with H5N1 has also been far higher than for those with COVID. Of the nearly 900 human cases of H5N1 tracked worldwide between 2003 and May of this year, 52% were fatal, according to the World Health Organization.
But the H5N1 fatality rate may not be quite as frightening as it sounds, Pekosz said. It's easier to track the more severe cases - those that result in hospitalizations and deaths - while milder infections may be missed, leading to an underestimate of the number of cases, he said. Even so, Pekosz noted, "I'm sure the virus has higher mortality rates than seasonal flu."
2. Testing faces obstacles
The people who are currently most exposed to H5N1 - dairy workers - can also be challenging to test and monitor, public-health experts say. More than 40% of dairy workers were uninsured as of 2015, according to a USDA study, and many are undocumented. On top of the lack of health coverage, language barriers and concerns about engaging with health officials may put some distance between these workers and health services, according to health-policy-research nonprofit KFF.
Broader availability of bird-flu tests may also be needed, some experts say. Currently, the only authorized test that can specifically identify H5N1 is a CDC test that is available at more than 100 labs nationwide, according to the FDA. Many other widely used flu tests can detect influenza A, a broad category that includes H5N1 as well as some seasonal flu. If one of those tests turns up a suspected bird-flu case, then the CDC's test is needed to determine whether it's H5N1.
While there's currently plenty of testing capacity, if the virus adapts and begins to transmit more easily, having additional tests available would be "incredibly helpful," said Kelly Wroblewski, director of infectious-disease programs at the Association of Public Health Laboratories.
The FDA is working with test developers who may be interested in developing bird-flu tests, an agency official told MarketWatch, but so far the FDA has not received regulatory submissions for any additional manufacturers' tests that could identify H5N1.
Nearly 700 people have been monitored because of their exposure to infected cows, according to the CDC, and more than 50 people have been tested because they developed symptoms. Under a broader flu-testing protocol, however, more than 30,000 human samples have also been tested since early March, the CDC said, and none of those were found to be tied to H5N1.
"CDC believes that the current testing guidance and supplies are appropriate for the situation now," a CDC spokesperson told MarketWatch. There are currently nearly 1 million H5-specific CDC tests, the spokesperson said, and 1 million more will be available in the coming months.
On top of testing for new cases, more testing for bird-flu antibodies is also needed, Pekosz said. Many people who were exposed to the virus early on may have no current signs but likely have antibodies that could indicate prior infections. Such testing is moving forward in at least one state, Michigan, with help from the CDC, health officials said this week.
3. We have wastewater surveillance to help detect flu - but it may not help much
The CDC now has data that show the levels of influenza A viruses in wastewater from regions across the country and can compare them to levels at the same sites during the 2023-2024 flu season. But the wastewater-monitoring methods don't distinguish among influenza A subtypes or between human and animal sources.
"It's still a relatively new tool, and we don't have a lot of baseline data to identify true signals from noise," Wroblewski said. Some of the signals seen so far, she said, turned out to be tied to the dumping of milk or cleaning out of trucks that were carrying dairy cattle.
While there's "tremendous potential" for this type of surveillance, Wroblewski said, "we're still learning how to use it most effectively and most efficiently."
4. Some experts say vaccination should start now - but government officials aren't making any promises
The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, is working with the FDA to label hundreds of thousands of existing doses of vaccine and filling another 4.8 million doses of the same vaccine, which is "well matched to the circulating H5N1 strain," an ASPR spokesperson told MarketWatch. Those additional doses will be completed this summer, the spokesperson said.
If we have shots that are considered safe and effective, it makes sense to start putting them in arms, some experts say. "Immunizing dairy-farm workers would be a great use of the existing stockpile right now," Pekosz said, adding that "vaccination can be very targeted" to protect the people most at risk. But communication would be key, he noted: "We don't want these hollow victories - like we'll give vaccines to all these dairy-farm workers, yet no one shows up to take it."
No vaccine campaign is imminent, the ASPR spokesperson said, as the risk to people remains low. The CDC spokesperson said the agency is involved in "early, ongoing discussions" of H5N1 vaccination and where and when it might be appropriate, but the virus is still "largely an agricultural issue affecting animal health." If the risk assessment changes, the spokesperson said, that could prompt additional steps to provide vaccines either to specific groups or the public more broadly.
If the virus evolves and circulates among humans, however, the existing vaccines may not be such a good match. The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority is working to add an mRNA platform for flu vaccines - which could potentially be integrated into its national vaccine-stockpile program, the ASPR spokesperson said - and accelerating its clinical-trial efforts. Moderna Inc.'s stock (MRNA) climbed late last month after a report that BARDA was nearing a deal to fund a late-stage trial of its experimental bird-flu vaccine. The ASPR spokesperson said Thursday that "specifics of ongoing contract discussions cannot be released at this time."
5. You can take steps to protect yourself
One clear and simple way to lower your risk: Don't drink raw milk. Pasteurization kills off harmful bacteria and viruses by heating milk to a specific temperature for a set period of time.
Some experts would still like to see more testing to ensure the milk supply's safety. "We know pasteurization works, but pasteurization is not sterilization and should not be our only defense," Pekosz said.
(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires
06-28-24 1402ET
CDC announcing new recommendations for vaccines this fall
Updated: 5:08 PM EDT Jun 28, 2024
SCHEDULING NEW SHOTS FOR YOUR FAMILY THIS FALL, THE CDC NOW SAYS MOST AMERICANS SHOULD GET AT LEAST TWO. HERE TO EXPLAIN IS DOCTOR SIMONE WILDES, AN INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST AT SOUTH SHORE HEALTH. GOOD TO SEE YOU, DOCTOR. HEY, DOCTOR WILDES, WE LOVE SEEING YOUR SMILE ON A FRIDAY ANY DAY. BUT ON A FRIDAY, ITS WONDERFUL. SO PEOPLE DONT WANT TO HEAR ABOUT SHOTS. OKAY, LETS GET THAT OUT THERE. BUT LETS START WITH THE FLU VACCINE. WHO SHOULD GET IT AND WHEN. YES. ED, I KNOW WERE JUST STARTING THE SUMMER SEASON. AND OF COURSE, YOU KNOW, AS HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS, WE ALWAYS LIKE TO PLAN AND WE WANT TO START BY TALKING ABOUT THE FLU. SO THE CDC RECOMMENDS THAT EVERYONE AGES SIX OVER SIX MONTHS, CAN GET THE FLU VACCINE. NOW, WE USUALLY START IN SEPTEMBER, ON OCTOBER. THOSE ARE THE RECOMMENDED TIMES. HOWEVER, I WILL SAY THE EXCEPTION ARE PEOPLE THAT ARE PREGNANT IN THEIR THIRD TRIMESTER AND WE WANT TO GET THEM VACCINATED IN JULY AND AUGUST SO THAT THEY CAN PROTECT THEIR BABIES AFTER BIRTH. OTHERWISE, YOU KNOW, SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER. THE TIME TO GET VACCINATED. OKAY. YOU KNOW, WERE ALSO GOING TO GET A NEW COVID 19 SHOT THIS FALL. WHAT ARE YOU LEARNING ABOUT THE CHANGES? SO JESSICA FOR THE NEW COVID VACCINE? WHAT I WILL SAY AGAIN, THE TIMELINE IS THE SAME IN THAT WE WANT AGES SIX MONTHS AND OLDER TO GET THE VACCINE. AND WHAT WE DO KNOW ABOUT THE NEW COVID VACCINE IS THAT ITS TARGETING THE NEWEST STRAIN THAT WE HAVE. SO RIGHT NOW ITS KP 0.2 VERSUS NOT THE OLDER ONE, WHICH IS NAUGHT POINT ONE. BOTTOM LINE, YOU DONT NEED TO WORRY ABOUT THE NAMES. JUST KNOW THAT THE NEW COVID VACCINES ARE GOING TO TARGET THE MOST DOMINANT STRAIN AT THIS TIME. SO SO DOCTOR WILDES, AS YOU KNOW, THE OTHER BIG WINTER VIRUS IS RSV. LAST YEAR WAS THE FIRST YEAR THAT WE ACTUALLY HAD A VACCINE THAT WAS AVAILABLE FOR ADULTS. SO WHO NEEDS TO GET IT? AND I ASSUME THOSE THAT DO SHOULD GET IT IN THE FALL. YES, WE DO GET IT IN THE FALL TOO, BUT JUST A FRIENDLY REMINDER TO OUR VIEWERS IS THAT THE RSV VACCINE FOR ADULTS IS NOT AN ANNUAL VACCINE. SO JUST BE CLEAR ABOUT THAT, BECAUSE SOMETIMES PEOPLE GET CONFUSED WITH THAT. NOW WHAT THEY HAVE MADE SOME UPDATED RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE RSV VACCINE. AND WHAT WE WANT IS FOR THOSE WHO DID NOT GET THE VACCINE LAST YEAR, THAT IF YOURE OVER AGE 75 OR IF YOURE 60 TO 74 AND YOURE AT RISK FOR SEVERE RSV BECAUSE YOU HAVE UNDERLYING LUNG DISEASE OR HEART DISEASE, OR IF YOU LIVE IN A NURSING HOME, THEN OF COURSE I WANT TO ENCOURAGE YOU TO GET VACCINATED, TO PROTECT NOT ON
CDC announcing new recommendations for vaccines this fall
Updated: 5:08 PM EDT Jun 28, 2024
Dr. Simone Wildes, infectious disease specialist at South Shore Health, talks about the importance of staying up to date on vaccines and which ones to look out for this fall.
Dr. Simone Wildes, infectious disease specialist at South Shore Health, talks about the importance of staying up to date on vaccines and which ones to look out for this fall.
Throughout the pandemic, one of the key questions on everyones mind was why some people avoided getting COVID, while others caught the virus multiple times.
Through a collaboration between University College London, the Wellcome Sanger Institute and Imperial College London in the UK, we set out to answer this question using the worlds first controlled challenge trial for COVID where volunteers were deliberately exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, so that it could be studied in great detail.
Unvaccinated healthy volunteers with no prior history of COVID were exposed via a nasal spray to an extremely low dose of the original strain of SARS-CoV-2. The volunteers were then closely monitored in a quarantine unit, with regular tests and samples taken to study their response to the virus in a highly controlled and safe environment.
For our recent study, published in Nature, we collected samples from tissue located midway between the nose and the throat as well as blood samples from 16 volunteers. These samples were taken before the participants were exposed to the virus, to give us a baseline measurement, and afterwards at regular intervals.
The samples were then processed and analysed using single-cell sequencing technology, which allowed us to extract and sequence the genetic material of individual cells. Using this cutting-edge technology, we could track the evolution of the disease in unprecedented detail, from pre-infection to recovery.
To our surprise, we found that, despite all the volunteers being carefully exposed to the exact same dose of the virus in the same manner, not everyone ended up testing positive for COVID.
In fact, we were able to divide the volunteers into three distinct infection groups (see illustration). Six out of the 16 volunteers developed typical mild COVID, testing positive for several days with cold-like symptoms. We referred to this group as the sustained infection group.
Out of the ten volunteers who did not develop a sustained infection, suggesting that they were able to fight off the virus early on, three went on to develop an intermediate infection with intermittent single positive viral tests and limited symptoms. We called them the transient infection group.
The final seven volunteers remained negative on testing and did not develop any symptoms. This was the abortive infection group. This is the first confirmation of abortive infections, which were previously unproven. Despite differences in infection outcomes, participants in all groups shared some specific novel immune responses, including in those whose immune systems prevented the infection.
When we compared the timings of the cellular response between the three infection groups, we saw distinct patterns. For example, in the transiently infected volunteers where the virus was only briefly detected, we saw a strong and immediate accumulation of immune cells in the nose one day after infection.
This contrasted with the sustained infection group, where a more delayed response was seen, starting five days after infection and potentially enabling the virus to take hold in these volunteers.
In these people, we were able to identify cells stimulated by a key antiviral defence response in both the nose and the blood. This response, called the interferon response, is one of the ways our bodies signal to our immune system to help fight off viruses and other infections. We were surprised to find that this response was detected in the blood before it was detected in the nose, suggesting that the immune response spreads from the nose very quickly.
Lastly, we identified a specific gene called HLA-DQA2, which was expressed (activated to produce a protein) at a much higher level in the volunteers who did not go on to develop a sustained infection and could hence be used as a marker of protection. Therefore, we might be able to use this information and identify those who are probably going to be protected from severe COVID.
These findings help us fill in some gaps in our knowledge, painting a much more detailed picture regarding how our bodies react to a new virus, particularly in the first couple of days of an infection, which is crucial.
We can use this information to compare our data to other data we are currently generating, specifically where we are challenging volunteers to other viruses and more recent strains of COVID. In contrast to our current study, these will mostly include volunteers who have been vaccinated or naturally infected that is, people who already have immunity.
Our study has significant implications for future treatments and vaccine development. By comparing our data to volunteers who have never been exposed to the virus with those who already have immunity, we may be able to identify new ways of inducing protection, while also helping the development of more effective vaccines for future pandemics. In essence, our research is a step towards better preparedness for the next pandemic.
June 27, 2024 Like clockwork, the summer resurgence of COVID-19 has become as expected as the changing of seasons.
Emergency rooms are seeing a 15% increase in treating people who have COVID, and hospitalizations for severe cases are up 25%. Signs of the virus that causes COVID found in the nationswastewater are also trending upward, mirroring a curve seen last summer as well.
The highest reported rates ofpositive COVID tests are in the region that includes California, Nevada, Arizona, and Hawaii, where 10% or more of tests are showing positive. The positive rate remains below 10% throughout the rest of the U.S., and less than 5% of tests are positive throughout most of the Southeastern U.S. and up the coast to Pennsylvania.
The counts are modest compared to previous summer COVID waves, but the rise is still large enough to translate into a meaningful increased risk.
Most U.S. states are having weekly COVID deaths, but numbers are dramatically down from the height of thousands per week earlier in the pandemic. For the week ending June 15, each U.S. state reported fewer than 10 deaths due to COVID.
But the illness still poses serious health threats, andresearch continues to show that it is more dangerous than the flu. In addition to staying up to date on vaccination, the CDC recommends practicing good hygiene, such as thorough hand-washing, and staying home and away from others if you have symptoms of a respiratory illness.Wearing a mask is still a good prevention strategy, the CDC says.
Certain groups of people, such as those who are older or who have weakened immune systems, are particularly at risk for severe and potentially life-threatening cases of COVID. Thats why knowing if you have COVID and staying home is important because you can help prevent illness in people most at risk, according to COVID expertAndy Pekosz, PhD, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. At-home tests may have extended expiration dates that are different from the ones printed on the package. Check this FDA database to see if a test is still OK to use.
The travel record timing is tough considering we're in the middle of a summer Covid-19 surge.
According to the CDC, cases have been rising for weeks in at least 38 states, particularly in the west and south.
Hospitalizations and deaths are also up.
The CDC says most cases are made up of 2 new variants.
The center suggests Americans 6-months and up should get updated Covid-19 and flu shots this fall.
All Americans ages 6 months and older should receive one of the new COVID-19 vaccines when they become available this fall, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
The recommendation comes as the nation faces a summer wave of COVID, with the number of infections rising in at least 39 states and territories.
Most Americans have acquired immunity against the coronavirus from repeat infections or vaccine doses, or both. The vaccines now offer an incremental boost, remaining effective for only a few months as immunity wanes and the virus continues to evolve.
Still, across every age group, a vast majority of Americans who were hospitalized for COVID did not receive one of the shots offered last fall, according to data presented at a meeting Thursday of the CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
Dr. Mandy Cohen, the agencys director, accepted the unanimous advice of the panel on Thursday to recommend another round of immunizations.
Professionals and the public in general do not understand how much this virus has mutated, said Carol Hayes, the committees liaison to the American College of Nurse-Midwives. You need this years vaccine to be protected against this years strain of the virus.
A vaccine by Novavax will target JN.1, the variant that prevailed for months in the winter and spring. The shots to be made by Pfizer and Moderna are aimed at KP.2, which until recently seemed poised to be the dominant variant.
But KP.2 appears to be giving way to two related variants, KP.3 and LB.1, which now account for more than half of new cases. All three variants, descendants of JN.1, are together nicknamed FLiRT, after two mutations in the viruss genes that contain those letters.
The mutations are thought to help the variants evade some immune defenses and spread faster as a result, but there is no evidence that the variants cause more severe illness.
Emergency department visits related to COVID in the week ending June 15 increased by nearly 15%, and deaths by nearly 17%, over the previous weeks totals. Hospitalizations also appear to be increasing, but the trends are based on data from a subset of hospitals that still report figures to the CDC even though the requirement to do so ended in May.
COVID is still out there, and I dont think its ever going away, Dr. Steven P. Furr, the president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, said in an interview.
The biggest risk factor for severe illness is age. Adults ages 65 and older account for two-thirds of COVID hospitalizations and 82% of in-hospital deaths. Yet, only about 40% of Americans in that age group were immunized with a COVID vaccine offered last fall.
This is an area where theres a lot of room for improvement and could prevent a lot of hospitalizations, said Dr. Fiona Havers, a CDC researcher who presented the hospitalization data.
Although younger adults are much less likely to become severely ill, there are no groups completely without risk, CDC researchers said. Children particularly those younger than 5 are also vulnerable, but only about 14% were immunized against COVID last fall.
Many parents mistakenly believe that the virus is harmless in children, said Dr. Matthew Daley, a panelist and senior investigator at Kaiser Permanente Colorado.
Because the burden was so high in the oldest age groups, we lost sight of the absolute burden in pediatric age groups, Daley said.
Even if children do not become ill themselves, they can fuel circulation of the virus, especially once they return to school, Furr said.
Theyre the ones that, if theyre exposed, are more likely to bring it home to their parents and to their grandparents, he said. By immunizing all groups, youre more likely to prevent the spread.
Among children, infants younger than 6 months have been hardest hit by COVID, according to data presented at the meeting. But they are not eligible for the new shots.
It is critical that pregnant persons get vaccinated, not only to protect themselves but also to protect their infants until they are old enough to be vaccinated, Dr. Denise Jamieson, one of the panelists and the dean of the Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa, said in an interview.
Among both children and adults, vaccine coverage was lowest among the groups most at risk of COVID: Native Americans, Black Americans and Hispanic Americans.
In surveys, most Americans who said they probably or definitely would not receive the shots last fall cited unknown side effects, not enough studies, or distrust of the government and pharmaceutical companies.
The CDC has said that the vaccines are linked to only four serious side effects, but thousands of Americans have filed claims for other medical injuries they say were caused by the shots.
At the meeting, CDC researchers said they had, for the first time, detected that Pfizers COVID vaccine may have led to four additional cases of Guillain-Barr syndrome, a rare neurological condition, per 1 million doses administered to older adults. (The numbers available for Moderna and Novavax vaccines were too small for analysis.)
The risk may not turn out to be real, but even if it is, the incidence of GBS is comparable to the rate observed with other vaccines, the researchers said.
The CDC has also investigated a potential risk of stroke after vaccination, but the findings thus far are inconclusive, agency scientists said. In any case, the benefit from the vaccines outweighs the potential harms, they said.
The panelists bemoaned the sharp drop in health care providers who counsel patients about the importance of COVID vaccination. Nearly half of providers said they did not recommend the shots because they believed their patients would refuse.
There has also been increasing physical and verbal abuse in hospitals and health care settings, said Dr. Helen Keipp Talbot, a professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University and the committees chair.
Some of our physicians may not be recommending it due to concerns about safety of them and their staff, she said.
Although the panelists unanimously recommended COVID vaccination for people of all ages this time, they debated the feasibility of universal recommendations in the future. The vaccines are much pricier than other shots, and they are most cost-effective when given to older adults.
At an individual level, the Affordable Care Act requires insurers, including Medicare and Medicaid, to cover vaccines recommended by the advisory committee at no cost. But up to 30 million Americans do not have health insurance.
The Bridge Access Program, a federal initiative that makes the vaccines available to underinsured and uninsured Americans, will end in August.
Unless the price of the vaccines drops, the cost of immunizing all Americans may not be sustainable, the panelists said.
As more and more of society is exposed either to vaccine or disease, it will become much less cost-effective, Talbot said. We will need to have a less expensive vaccine to make this work.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Reported coronavirus cases statewide increased by more than 100, from 794 to 911 in the week ending June 22. Thats an increase of 137 cases and a percentage increase of 17.25%.
In the 10 communities covered by The Sun Chronicle in that same period, reported cases increased by 12, from 17 to 29. Thats a percentage increase of 70.58%.
The 10 local communities covered are: Attleboro, North Attleboro, Mansfield, Norton, Plainville, Foxboro, Norfolk, Wrentham, Seekonk and Rehoboth.
Reported cases in the 10 communities have ranged from 11 to 22 for 13 weeks.
In week 14, they exceeded the 22 by 7 reported cases.
And its the 15th consecutive week the number of reported cases statewide is under 1,000 and the third consecutive week the number of reported cases has gone up, nearing the 1,000 mark.
The number of COVID-19 cases in the area and state, however, is not accurate and the figure is likely higher because of the prevalence of home-testing kits. Not all the positive cases found through home-testing are reported to health officials. Also, many people who become ill with COVID-like symptoms fever, congestion, sneezing, fatigue, body aches, and headaches dont bother testing as the virus has weakened and the symptoms caused by the virus are less severe.
The last 20 weeks statewide, the number of reported cases has gone from 4,999 to 911 cases, which is a decrease of 81.77%.
That percentage has shrunk over the last three weeks.
In the week ending June 22, three towns had zero reported cases. They were Mansfield, Plainville and Rehoboth.
There were 236 coronavirus tests administered by health professionals in the 10 communities covered by The Sun Chronicle, with 29 positives, which is a percentage of 12.28%, or 4.45 points higher than the week ending June 15.
Nationwide, the positive test percentage is 5.4%. Thats an increase of 12 tests from the 17 recorded last week, which equals 70.58%.
For context, the highest number of new cases statewide for one week was recorded on Jan. 14, 2022 at 132,557.
The highest number locally for one week was 3,463, recorded on Jan. 13, 2022.
All told, since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, the area has recorded 50,962 cases. Thats 25.38% of the 200,793 population in the 10 communities covered by The Sun Chronicle.
Percentages of the disease in each community range from 22% to 29% (rounded up) and the average is 24.75%
Norfolk is the lowest at 22.03% and Attleboro is the highest at 28.72%.
In the week ending June 22,, the case counts in each of the 10 communities was:
Statewide, the number was 911 confirmed cases with 313 probable cases for a total statewide of 2,159,166 confirmed and probable cases since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.
The number of confirmed deaths statewide for the week of June 22 was 8 and the number of probable deaths was 0.
The number of confirmed deaths statewide since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020 is 23,490 and the number of confirmed and probable deaths is 30,002.
A recent poll for the local 10 communities reported the total number of deaths at 520. Thats a death rate of 1.02%.
Death totals per community covered by The Sun Chronicle were:
Most of the deaths were suffered by those over 65.
George W. Rhodes can be reached at 508-236-0432.
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The number of people who are hospitalised and are diagnosed with coronavirus has almost doubled since the end of May, Gikas Magiorkinis, a professor of epidemiology and a member of the expert committee advising the Ministry of Health, said on Saturday.
Intubations are currently at low levels, however it is too early to draw safe conclusions, as they usually have long hospitalizations, he told Praktoreio FM radio.
Based on the data we have, there is a significant possibility that we are experiencing a phase of exponential growth, that is, we will see hospitalizations continue to increase, but we do not expect anything dramatic that will put pressure on the health system, he continued.
This year, there is an upward trend in the epidemiological curve compared to the same period last year when it was downward, Magiorkinis said. The rise in hospsitalizations in the summer of 2023 happened 4 to 5 weeks later compared to 2024. So, there is a shift to the trend to appear earlier. Its too early to say for sure, but we have a significant chance that increased circulation [of Covid-19] will start earlier this summer, he added.
