Health experts have been saying for years that coronavirus-era politics and the spread of anti-vaxxer lies are pushing us to the brink of a public health catastrophe, with a major collapse in vaccination rates. He warned me that it was close. This has not happened. Despite deep concerns about a generation of young parents who may soon give up on vaccinations altogether, not just for COVID-19 but perhaps for all diseases, many of the statistics we have are looking positive. is. Standard vaccination coverage for infants and young children, including pandemic infants born in 2020, ishigh and stable” reports the CDC. And vaccination rates for kindergartners have declined since the pandemic began. No more losing ground.
Whatever gaps in childhood vaccinations were created by the chaos of early 2020 have since closed, Alison Buttenheim, a professor of nursing and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania, told me. . In fact, it’s an amazing feat. ”
But even behind this victory, a more concrete crisis in vaccine acceptance is emerging. Americans are currently less skeptical about vaccinations overall — the public is not anti-vaccine — but trust in the annual coronavirus vaccination has eroded. there are very few children I’m getting them. Among adults, the decline in intake continues rapidly and relentlessly. By spring 2022, 56 percent of all adults will have received their first booster shot. One year later, only 28% were current. This coronavirus season has so far been 19 percent The same can be said.
Of course, the risk of infection is also reduced. At this point, almost all of us have been exposed to the coronavirus, either through prior vaccination, natural infection, or —most likely-both. This makes the disease’s fatality rate much lower than before. (Among children, the CDC now says attribute The weekly death rate due to the new coronavirus is “0.00%”. ) But for one age group in particular, people over 65, the collapse in vaccination rates should evoke fear. More than 1,500 people still die each week related to the coronavirus. Almost everyone I am an elderly person. Current data suggests that the new coronavirus is contagious. kill your senior It’s seven times more contagious than influenza. Mass collapse is a reality across nursing homes and retirement communities across the country.
Just like young Americans, older adults are not shunned. all Recommended vaccinations (COVID-19 only). Their flu vaccination rates have fallen slightly in recent years, but only a few percentage points from the pandemic’s all-time high of 75%. About 70 percent of people 65 and older have received a flu vaccine this season, which is about the same as the average vaccination rate. decades. On the other hand, the latest coronavirus vaccination rate among elderly people has decreased by more than half since 2022. 38 percent. These divergence rates (steady for influenza but plummeting for coronavirus) are strikingly inconsistent with the associated risks. Older adults seem to understand the value of the flu shot. So why don’t they take the same precautions for something this bad?
Some may blame the toxic political fight over the vaccine and the spread of misinformation about its harmful effects. “A frightening event has occurred in the United States that is likely to amplify and strengthen public rejection of vaccines and other biomedical innovations,” vaccine expert Peter Hotez wrote in his recent book. The deadly rise of anti-science. Toxic politics and pervasive misinformation certainly exist, but the anti-expert behavior that Hotez and others denounce does not fit well with the state of emergency described above. Overall, the population of Americans 65 and older is hardly worse off with vaccines.They aren’t particularly afraid of getting the coronavirus vaccine: despite political divisions last, more than 95% of older adults received their first vaccination. Over 95%!
I agree with Hotez in an opinion article on Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association In the report, released last week, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf and a senior FDA official named Peter Marks show the country is on the verge of abysmal uptake of coronavirus vaccinations among older adults. listed as one of several signs. “Dangerous tipping point” Vaccination problems caused by an ocean wave of misinformation about vaccines online. (Healthcare providers should try to stem the tide, they write, with “a large body of true and accessible scientific evidence.”) But in 2022 and beyond, the amount of anti-vaccine rhetoric And the intensity seems to have diminished somewhat, Buttenheim told me. “We’re going to have to come up with some reason why it’s having a bigger impact now than it has in years past.”
Confusion and fatigue may be bigger factors here than fear or false beliefs. Many Americans, young and old, have long since moved beyond the pandemic and may not want to think about the topic long enough to make plans for what’s next. Noel Brewer, a professor of health behavior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said the fact that people are fed up with the coronavirus and all the controversy it’s generated is “a huge impediment to vaccine rollout.” Told. Like many other adults, older adults are also confused by the changes in the shot’s name and when and for which groups it is recommended. Buttenheim doesn’t think people are particularly afraid of this year’s doses. “This is, for example, fall back,” she said. “It’s like, Oh, is it?”
According to another theory, The CDC is to blame for this indifference., by promoting annual COVID-19 vaccinations to people of all ages, including those for whom the net benefit of further vaccination is less visible. In Britain, where the latest coronavirus vaccinations are available to a much smaller number of people, the rate of inoculation among older people is almost twice as high as in the United States. 70 percent. It’s not because the UK’s health system is better organized than ours. Also, that’s not the only reason. Even under these circumstances, older people in the UK are less likely to receive a flu shot. somewhat expensive than their American predecessors.
Rupali Limaye, an epidemiologist who studies health communication at Johns Hopkins University, said broader developments could be contributing to the problem. “If it’s a blanket recommendation, it dilutes the message.” The CDC’s message about COVID-19 vaccinations has the advantage of simplicity, but the trade-off is that it’s less persuasive to those most at risk. There is. Again, it is recommended that all Americans six months of age and older get a flu shot, and about the same percentage get vaccinated each year. This is a result of our training, Brewer told me. “The United States has invested decades in developing the habit of getting a flu shot every year. Older adults know this is what they have to do and are accustomed to it. .”
What is more important than habits is acquisition Influenza vaccination is a habit supply they. Local clinics, businesses, and retirement communities know how to administer these vaccines (and understand how the costs will be covered). They’ve been doing this for years. Buttenheim said her university holds a flu shot clinic every fall, and she can usually get her shot within 90 seconds. However, the equivalent of COVID-19 vaccination has not yet become routine.Appointments are being canceled in areas where vaccines are available Missing doses or mix-ups with insurance. Government efforts to improve access include: delay.
Now that the pandemic emergency has ended, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, regardless of your intentions or beliefs. “What used to be a very well-structured and scaffolded process for getting a vaccine has just disappeared,” Buttenheim said. Turning around adoption rates may require establishing a new post-emergency delivery system with less confusion about cost and coverage. That development alone could be enough to end the collapse of vaccines for the elderly. If COVID-19 vaccinations become as standardized and recursive as flu shots, at least about two-thirds of people over 65 will be able to get vaccinated. , seasonal vaccination rates may begin to rise again. That’s probably the upper limit for influenza vaccination coverage, Brewer said. “It’s impossible to have a higher vaccination rate than this.”
