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State and local health officials across the country are preparing for an increase in respiratory illnesses this fall and are urging everyone who is eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus as soon as they become available. making plans.
“We are very concerned about the coming season of all respiratory diseases,” Dr. Marcus Prescia, chief medical officer of the Association of State and Territory Health Officials, said at a briefing on Wednesday.
Local health departments are working with state and federal officials to get eligible people vaccinated against the flu, the latest COVID-19 boosters, and more, according to Rory Tremmel Freeman, chief executive officer of the National Association of County and City Health Workers. He plans to encourage people to get the RSV vaccine.
“Fall’s focus will be on clear and integrated messaging, especially to those most at risk, because we are talking about a unique new normal of co-existing respiratory viruses.” she said. “There has been a conscientious consideration of how this is communicated. It is really about public health and keeping everyone safe during respiratory disease season.”
Nationally, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also preparing for the threat of respiratory disease this fall.
“Protecting against respiratory illnesses this fall is a central focus of CDC. , and providing information on how to protect yourself,” spokeswoman Kathleen Conley said in an email. “CDC will do everything in its power to help people understand how to protect themselves and their families from serious illnesses, including keeping vaccinations up to date.”
Some of the major U.S. pharmacy chains have begun rolling out flu and respiratory syncytial virus vaccine appointments, and the latest COVID-19 boosters could be ready by late September.
Health officials recommend that Adults over age 60 should be vaccinated against RSV Everyone over six months old is advised to get a flu shot, preferably by Halloween, as soon as a doctor recommends doing so. This is an approach called “the flu before the boo”.
As for the new Covid-19 booster, health officials are waiting for the US Food and Drug Administration to officially approve it, followed by the CDC’s recommendation. However, it plans to recommend Covid-19 boosters before Halloween as well.
“I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think about H1N1 before the boos,” Connecticut Surgeon General Dr. Manisha Jutani said at a press conference Wednesday. “We really want this to be easy and simple for a lot of people.”
She added that if flu shots and the latest COVID-19 vaccine are available, those who want a single appointment may be able to get them at the same time.
“There is no single vaccine that will be 100%. That’s it,” Jutani said. “And it will make a difference in the overall health of those who receive them.”
Pharmacies and clinics will continue to offer flu, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus vaccines this fall, while some states are also considering holding immunization events.
“One of the other lessons we’ve learned from COVID-19 is that you can’t wait for people to come to you. We have to,” Dr. Joseph Cantor, state health officer and medical director of the Louisiana Department of Health, said at a news conference Wednesday.
“As we look ahead to the back-to-school season, we are leveraging one of the more effective programs we have implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic: distributing vaccines to people. We have a team that we set up in the middle of , and now we’re using it for flu and RSV, and we’re going out into the community and holding vaccination events in convenient locations for families,” he said. “We will continue these campaigns because we know that wherever barriers exist, we need to reduce barriers, and we can help get vaccines to people. .”
Walgreens, Rite Aid and CVS are among the major US pharmacy chains that have already begun rolling out pre-orders for influenza and RSV vaccines.
Walgreens now offers both vaccines, the company announced last week. Anyone over the age of 3 can get a flu shot at a pharmacy, and an adult over 60 can get her RSV vaccine.
Rite Aid will also announce the availability of these vaccines soon, according to a company spokesperson.
CVS schedules flu vaccinations and allows walk-in vaccinations at some pharmacies. The chain is also preparing to offer a new RSV vaccine.
The chains have announced that they will provide new COVID-19 boosters as soon as they become available.
While it’s difficult to predict exactly how many flu, novel coronavirus, and respiratory syncytial virus cases will rise in the United States this fall and winter, state health officials are planning now to prepare for a potential surge. said he was standing up.
“We are in uncharted territory. We really don’t know how this season will turn out and it will be different in different parts of the country,” Jutani said.
“One of the things we’re doing in Connecticut is meeting with children’s hospitals to understand what they’re planning to do if we see a surge starting this fall,” he said, specifically for RSV. She said, referring to preparations for “So this is the type of plan that is being done at the state level all over the country.”
Health officials are preparing for the worst and hoping for the best, but they are closely monitoring the number of respiratory illnesses currently being reported in the United States, as well as data on the spread of the virus in the Southern Hemisphere and around the world.
“We’re all watching the respiratory season closely. It’s something state health officials are always preparing for every fall, especially this fall,” said Alaska’s chief medical officer and state chief medical officer. Dr Anne Zink, president of the Association of Territorial Health Officials, said at a press conference on Wednesday.
“Influenza continues to circulate. We are now closely monitoring what is happening in the Southern Hemisphere. Last year we saw Over 9 million diseasesFour million medical visits, 10,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths are associated with influenza,” she said. “But we saw it Vaccines prevented 1.8 million of those diseases1 million medical visits, 22,000 hospitalizations, 1,000 deaths.
Every year she points out: RSV appears to cause about 2.1 million hospital visits Covers children under 1 year and up to 300 child deaths. In adults, RSV causes up to 160,000 hospitalizations and 10,000 deaths annually.
“The situation with the new coronavirus continues,” Zink said. “It continues to spread and it continues to exist.”
Last year, about 244,000 people died in the United States from COVID-19. According to CDC data.
a A report published last year by Commonwealth Fand found that in the first two years after the COVID-19 vaccine became available in the United States, more than 18 million people were saved from hospital visits and more than 3 million lives were saved. did.
CNN’s Amanda Musa contributed to this report.
