At the same time that a summer surge affects people across the nation, new COVID-19 vaccines are hitting the shelves.
Although most people no longer pay much attention to the virus, the danger of its spread is increasing dramatically as the number of reported cases rises in tandem with the start of the school year.
The CDC reports that “high” or “very high” concentrations of COVID-19 are present in the wastewater of the majority of states. Up to 2.5% of the population may be infected with COVID-19, according to one estimate.
Superspreaders even disrupted the Democratic National Convention.
Even though the virus is common and long COVID-19 is a constant worry, public health officials are facing many challenges in their efforts to increase vaccination rates, such as declining interest in the shots, unsatisfactory testing, and the elimination of a program that helped the uninsured get the shots.
Epidemiologist Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy stated, “One of the challenges of today is just that people aren’t going to get vaccinated.” Everyone is perplexed. When it comes to COVID-19, they have no idea what’s going on or the dangers they face.
An increase from 10% in April 2021 to over 20% now holds, according to a new survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center, the mistaken belief that contracting a COVID-19 illness is safer than getting a vaccine.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that last year, 22.5% of adults and 14.4% of children got the improved Covid vaccine.
Although the likelihood of hospitalization and mortality is significantly lower than in 2021, it remains a concern, especially for individuals with impaired immune systems or advanced age.
Ex-Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams told reporters, “There’s no doubt that this is better than we were in 2020 or 2021, but that doesn’t mean it’s acceptable or good enough.” Adams was serving under Trump.
All the information you need to know regarding the vaccine is this:
Just how good is this vaccine?
Due to its prevalence at the time, the KP.2 strain of the virus was requested by the FDA in June for inclusion in vaccine formulations. Although the KP.2 vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are effective, the CDC estimates that more than half of all infections in the United States are caused by related subvariants, including KP.3 and KP.3.1.1, which are currently the most common strains.
In recent years, the virus has undergone rapid changes, according to Osterholm. As a result, vaccines are developed against strains that are no longer dominant when the new ones are released.
In spite of this, CDC Director Mandy Cohen emphasized that the vaccine is still highly effective and advised that all individuals older than six months receive a flu shot and a COVID-19 vaccine “in September or October ahead of the expected increases in both viruses this winter.”
Given the recent uptick in reported cases, several in the field of public health have called for an early start, if feasible.
When asked about the importance of having a vaccine, Adams emphasized that it is best administered prior to infection or exposure.
A CDC study found that last year’s vaccine only protected 54% of people from symptomatic COVID-19 infections.
If you’ve recently contracted COVID-19, when is the best time to receive a vaccine?
This is a common question that Adams has been asked frequently recently, due to the high number of people getting Covid during the summer surge, according to him.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advise that those who have recently contracted COVID-19 should wait three months following the start of symptoms or a positive test before receiving an updated dose, but should still receive their dose once the symptoms have subsided.
When will the COVID-19 rise peak?
Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, noted that it depends on where you reside. Compared to earlier this month, when nearly every state reported increases, the fact that approximately half of the states are showing an increase in viral transmission is significantly better.
Last week, he cautioned that they were far from done in a news briefing. “However, there may be signs of a plateauing.”
Is the extent of the COVID-19 pandemic well understood?
Although wastewater monitoring can offer some insights, public health authorities are unable to monitor the virus to the same extent as they were during the peak of the pandemic. The rate of testing and reporting is really low.
What’s intriguing, according to Adams, is that we’re already in the year 2024, and there appears to be no national testing policy about distribution, reporting of test results, who should be tested, etc. “The CDC… should and could do more to assist us in gaining insight into the issues happening in the world by truly creating and conveying a comprehensive plan for testing.”
How much will it be?
The Affordable Care Act ensures that the vaccine will be covered at no cost by the majority of insurance plans. However, things will probably be different this year for those without health insurance. Free COVID vaccines for the uninsured will be cut off this week by a government program. Several state health departments have informed AWN that they want to buy dosages or are very contemplating doing so in order to provide them to individuals without health insurance. Not many people, though, plan to have enough money to purchase what they think they’ll need.
Just last week, the CDC announced that it would be sending $62 million to state and local governments to assist with vaccine purchases. However, this amount pales in comparison to the $1.1 billion that was set aside for the Bridge Access Program. This program kicked off in September of last year and successfully vaccinated 1.5 million Americans.
Furthermore, local health officials are still in the dark regarding the recipients and potential amounts of that funding. Worse yet, even if they do receive funding, they have no idea if it can go toward buying the vaccine or towards more administrative costs like salaries.
“It’s not enough, and we need to learn more about what it’s meant to support,” Big Cities Health Coalition executive director Chrissie Juliano told reporters Tuesday.
Without health insurance, a COVID vaccine can cost more than $100, and some public health authorities are concerned that the lack of excitement will be even more tempered by the closure of the Bridge Access Program.
Crystal La Tour Rambaud, who oversees the vaccination program in Arizona’s Pima County Health Department, stated, “We are definitely experiencing Covid fatigue.” People who are still on the fence make up the demographic we’re watching closely. You won’t find them totally in favor of or against the vaccine. Plus, it’s a little detail that could sway such populations to opt out of vaccination altogether.
She assured everyone without health insurance that Pima will purchase enough medication to cover everyone.
“However, it will be funded in the same way as many of our other vaccine initiatives,” she explained.