Pages – MDH expands statewide public awareness campaign … – Maryland Department of Health

November 8, 2023

Media Contact:

Chase Cook, Acting Director, Office of Communications, 410-767-8649

Maryland Department of Health expands statewide public awareness campaign urging Marylanders to vaccinate against COVID-19, flu and RSV

Baltimore, MD The Maryland Department of Health expanded its statewide public awareness campaign highlighting the importance of preventing respiratory illness by getting the updated COVID-19 vaccine, annual flu shot and the new RSV vaccine for older adults and pregnant women.

The Vaccinate. Prevent. Protect. campaign informs Marylanders about the new vaccines available and why vaccination and prevention are the best ways to protect families against the triple viral threat of COVID-19, seasonal flu and RSV throughout fall and winter.

The campaign features statewide radio promotion in English and Spanish, and digital messaging, including content on the Departments X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram accounts.

The updated COVID-19 vaccines are now widely available, as are this years annual flu vaccine. We urge all Marylanders to get these two vaccines as soon as possible to be protected for the upcoming months, said Maryland Department of Health Secretary Laura Herrera Scott. We are also excited that this year, for the first time, there are RSV vaccines and antibody treatments available for older adults, pregnant women, and newborns to protect our most vulnerable Marylanders against severe RSV infections.

The COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna were approved on Sept. 12, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after prior approval by the Food and Drug Administration to protect against COVID-19 omicron variants:

Marylanders 6 months and older can get the shot if its been at least two months since their last COVID-19 vaccine.

Marylanders 5 and older can get the updated COVID-19 vaccine even if they have not gotten vaccinated for COVID-19 previously.

Annual flu vaccines are also now widely available at pharmacies and local health department clinics and from health care providers. It is safe and convenient to get both the COVID-19 and flu vaccines at the same time, according to the CDC.

For Marylanders 60 and older, there is a new RSV vaccine that decreases the risk of severe illness from this respiratory virus. There is also now protection for babies in the form of a new vaccine for pregnant women in their third trimester, as well as a monoclonal antibody treatment for newborns and at-risk infants.

We are in the season when cases of respiratory viruses, especially COVID, are beginning to rise as viruses spread, said Deputy Secretary for Public Health Services Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman. We urge people to take steps to prevent transmission of illness and continue to use the measures we have learned to protect against COVID, flu, and RSV, especially vaccination.

For more information about how to protect against COVID-19, flu, and RSV, visit health.maryland.gov/pha. Marylanders can also visit vaccines.gov for a listing of COVID-19 and flu shot sites near them.

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