We urge readers to update their COVID vaccinations for a healthy, holiday season | PennLive Editorial – PennLive

Were now full swing into the holiday season, and we wish we could say COVID 19 was in the rearview mirror. It isnt.

But COVID-19 is no longer the threat it once was when hospitals were full, thousands were clinging to life on ventilators and the morgues were chock full of bodies young and old.

Theres a reason COVID 19 and its variants are no longer the threat they once were. Its called vaccines.

For all the hoopla that surrounded COVID-19 vaccines when they first emerged, they have been a game changer for public health. If youre up to date on your COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters, you may still get the darn virus, but youre far more likely to survive.

This holiday season, COVID 19 is still prowling around look for new hosts. Its still sending people to the hospital, and it can still kill, especially if youre over 65 years old or suffer serious health conditions. But if youre fully vaccinated, even if you catch the virus, chances are good you wont wind up on a ventilator or worse.

With Moderna, Pfizer and Novavax, there now are enough vaccines readily available to anyone who wants to ward off serious illness and death. We owe a big debt to the hard-working doctors and scientists who worked to bring the vaccines safely to market and who continue to improve them, even as COVID mutates around us.

Those who prefer to take their chances with the latest strand of COVID this fall, and winter have the freedom to do so. Good luck and all the best to you. But why would anyone take the risk?

To ensure these holidays are filled with family and friends and not nurses and doctors, the vaccines are the key. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) is recommending everyone over the age of 5 get the 20232024 updated COVID-19 vaccines that hit the pharmacies in September. It doesnt matter if its Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, or Novavax, they all provide enough protection to keep most people out of the hospital.

By now if youve been paying the slighted attention, you know the COVID vaccine is no longer the only shot in town. You still need the annual flu vaccination. And people over 60 years old are advised to get the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccine, as well.

RSV can be serious if youre over 60 years old or have celebrate one. In most other people, it causes mild, cold-like symptoms that are over in less than two weeks. But it can put older adults and infants in the hospital; and it can kill. Luckily, we can thank the scientists there are vaccines now available to protect older adults from severe

Again, its your call on whether to get the RSV vaccine if youre eligible, but why take the risk? Just get the shot when you get the other two and be done with it.

To prevent severe RSV disease in infants, the CDC recommends either maternal RSV vaccination or infant immunization. Its important for pregnant women to consults their physicians for individual guidance to protect their children.

The good news is this year we have options for a healthier holiday. Of course, you dont have to listen to the CDC, to the good doctors trying to keep you alive, or to us. But we urge you to do so.

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We urge readers to update their COVID vaccinations for a healthy, holiday season | PennLive Editorial - PennLive