With fresh More and more COVID-19 cases In some parts of the country, health authorities are preparing a vaccination campaign in the fall.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday recommended new vaccinations for all Americans this fall.
Officials acknowledged that the need for vaccinations is not as great as it was a few years ago. Most Americans have some level of immunity from infectionthrough previous vaccinations, or both. COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations last month were at their lowest levels since the pandemic first emerged in the United States in 2020.
But immunity is waning, new variants of the coronavirus continue to emerge, and hundreds of COVID-19-related deaths and thousands of hospitalizations are still being reported every week.
In addition, health officials have reported an increase in COVID-19-related emergency room visits and hospitalizations this month, and a significant increase for positive test results in the southwestern United States
It is not clear whether this is a sign of an upcoming summer wave – which has happened before – or just a blip, said Lauren Ancel Meyers of the University of Texas, who leads a research team that COVID-19.
“We have to wait and see what happens in the next few weeks,” she said.
Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration – following the Orientation aid from its own panel of experts—urged vaccine makers to focus on the JN.1 version of the virus. But a week later, the FDA told makers that if they could still switch, a better target might be an offshoot subtype called KP.2.
At a meeting Thursday at the CDC in Atlanta, infectious disease experts unanimously recommended the updated vaccines for Americans 6 months and older. The CDC director signed the recommendation later in the day. The shots are expected to be available in August and September.
Health officials have told Americans to expect an annual update of COVID-19 vaccines, just as they are recommended to get a new shot each fall to protect against the latest flu viruses.
But many Americans are not following the CDC’s advice.
Last month, less than a quarter of adults and 14% of children in the U.S. were vaccinated against COVID. Polls show that fewer Americans believe COVID-19 poses a major health threat to the U.S. population, and fewer doctors are advising their patients to get their vaccinations updated.
On Thursday, CDC officials presented recent survey data showing that about 23 percent of respondents said they would definitely get a new COVID-19 vaccine in the fall, but 33 percent said they definitely would not.
Meanwhile, the CDC’s Bridge Access Program – which funds vaccinations for uninsured U.S. adults – is expected to end in August as funding is phased out. The program funded nearly 1.5 million doses from September through last month.
“The loss of this program is a challenge,” said Shannon Stokley of the CDC.
About 1.2 million COVID-related deaths have been reported in the U.S. since the beginning of 2020, according to the CDC. The death toll was highest in the winter of 2020-2021, when weekly deaths exceeded 20,000. About 1 in 100 Americans ages 75 and older have been hospitalized with COVID over the past four years, CDC officials said Thursday.
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