A recent CDC COVID tracker update offered some useful thoughts about vaccines for all of us going into fall. At a recent White House press briefing, Dr. Ashish Jha, the COVID-19 response coordinator, said what several other sources have been repeating. We should anticipate and prepare for a possible spike in COVID cases this fall and winter. That trend has already been recorded in some European countries. In the past two-and-a-half years, a COVID case increase in those areas has preceded one in the U.S. (Why don’t they just keep their viruses on that side of the Atlantic?)
Students returned to class sans masks. People are gathering in tight, not so-well ventilated rooms, no masks. These times and conditions always permit transmission of all the seasonal respiratory infections in communities. Influenza is a familiar prototype. It’s time for your flu vaccination as well. A COVID case increase could well follow that pattern. The revamped COVID bivalent booster for omicron variant BA.5 has been available since Labor Day. The family of COVID vaccines over the last year and a half HAVE made a significant difference and suppressed deadly variants, like delta and the first strains.
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They haven’t been able to achieve 100% success, but it would have been a lot worse without them. Remember the first pandemic year? Even those unvaccinated have benefited from the level of immunity vaccinated people produced. Reported cases have declined. With the introduction of home tests, the reality is that we have NO idea of how many people are getting infected and getting sick. We only know that if they show up to be admitted to a hospital or die. There are still around 300-plus people dying daily from COVID or its complications.
But now, folks with symptoms and positive tests are just getting over their infections, not reporting them. Only some are seeking medical attention. Many with symptoms are not testing. The good side of this mess is that the amount of severe illness, hospitalizations, and deaths have dropped with increasing vaccinations. Dr. Jha said more than 200 million people have received their primary series, but only about 13-15 million have gotten the new booster. It IS worth it to you and the people around you to get your shots and boosters.
The primary vaccines are the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA ones and the newer Novavax protein subunit technology one with zero fetal cell line development. Each is given as two injections intramuscularly 3-8 weeks apart. They are incredibly safe. The Johnson and Johnson viral vector vaccine is a distant fourth choice because of a remotely possible and rare adverse reaction that causes blood clots and lowers platelets, the cell pieces that facilitate clotting, which leads to bleeding episodes and death.
The former Pfizer and Moderna boosters were based on the original viral strain. The new bivalent ones have been revamped to carry additional information creating a new level of immunity to the omicron BA.5 and 4 strains, which can escape some of the prior vaccine induced defense capabilities. The former original strain boosters have been put to rest or gone to that big pharmacy in the sky.
A new age level approval for the bivalent vaccines has just come through. The FDA Wednesday gave emergency use authorization of the two strain/bivalent shot, Pfizer’s down to 5 and Moderna’s down to 6 years old. These shore up waning immunity to protect from BA.5 and 4.
Why get shot if you may get sick anyway? Because you likely won’t get as sick, and will protect your loved ones around you, think kids and elders. Folks with compromised immune systems need more shots.
They need to check with their doc to get the best schedule for their problem, be it cancer or other.
Yes, there is a lot of cheerleading in this column for the vaccines because those without them have died at much higher rates, gotten much sicker and have greater rates of lasting problems, so-called long COVID. The more times you get COVID, the greater the possibility of permanent medical detriment. As a cheerleader, I’ll keep my white coat on. The image of me in a short skirt waving pom-poms is unimaginable. P.S. Masks are still a good idea in close quarters. Just sayin’.
Dr. Bures, a semi-retired dermatologist, since 1978 has worked Winona, La Crosse, Viroqua and Red Wing. He also plays clarinet in the Winona Municipal Band and a couple dixieland groups. And he does enjoy a good pun.