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Si quiere leer la versión en español, pulse aquí. Today, ACIP — CDC’s external scientific committee — had their normally scheduled meeting on all vaccines. YLE only stayed for the Covid-19 discussion. Here are your Cliff notes. Bottom line up front (BLUF)CDC says those over 65 should get a second Covid-19 vaccine this spring. (I’m not convinced that all people over 65 need it, though.) Who is being hospitalized by COVID-19 today?At this winter’s peak, there were 20,000 new hospital admissions and 2,000 deaths due to Covid-19 per week. This is less than previous winters but still higher than flu. Who is being hospitalized?
Why aren’t people getting Covid-19 vaccines?Vaccine coverage is really quite terrible in the United States. CDC is conducting surveys to understand why. This is what they found:
How effective are the fall vaccines?Pretty great and largely comparable to flu vaccines every year.
Some other interesting nuggets:
Context is SO important here. There is a public perception that the vaccines are not as compelling as they were in the pandemic’s beginning. However, the comparison group has changed as collective immunity increased. Most people have been infected and/or vaccinated—nearly 100%. This means VE today is additional protection compared to all the immunity already out there. Is a spring vaccine cost-effective?This is a key consideration for many countries (like the U.K.), as their government provides free vaccines for all. This isn’t a main driving policy consideration in the U.S. Regardless, they found:
Other information
Bottom linePeople hospitalized today for Covid-19 are not up-to-date on their annual vaccine, even among those over 65 years. CDC says those over 65 should get a second Covid-19 vaccine this spring. This follows Canada’s and, somewhat U.K.’s, spring Covid-19 recommendations. I’m not convinced that most people over 65 need a spring vaccine. I will be recommending a spring vaccine to my family members in nursing homes (they are over 90 years old) or those who have multiple comorbidities, like heart disease. I don’t think they need to run to get it, but there will be a small benefit, given that we have multiple waves a year and their T cells (immune memory) are weak against Covid-19. (I think those over 65 who never got a fall vaccine should run.) Love, YLE P.S. ACIP will cover RSV vaccine information tomorrow. YLE will provide separate Cliff notes. |