Columnist Al Norman: Three shots this fall to stay safe and well

A COVID-19 rapid antigen test kit. 

A COVID-19 rapid antigen test kit.  CONTRIBUTED

By AL NORMAN

Published: 10-02-2023 5:22 PM

On Sept. 12, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised “everyone 6 months and older to get an updated COVID-19 vaccine to protect against the potentially serious outcomes of COVID-19 illness this fall and winter. ” The updated vaccines are produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

“Vaccination remains the best protection against COVID-19-related hospitalization and death,” the CDC said. CDC studies in 2023 on COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness, found that the mRNA vaccination was “76% effective” in preventing invasive ventilation and death up to six months after the last dose, and remained 56% effective at 1–2 years.” Among nursing home residents who were up to date with COVID-19 shots, vaccine effectiveness against COVID infection was 31.2%. The CDC recommended that “nursing home residents would benefit from the protection offered by staying up to date with recommended COVID-19 vaccinations.”

Vaccination also reduces your chance of suffering the effects of “Long Covid,” which can last for an extended period. ”If you have not received a COVID-19 vaccine in the past 2 months,” the CDC advised, “get an updated COVID-19 vaccine to protect yourself this fall and winter.”

The COVID virus continually mutates, and vaccine protection drops over time, so an updated vaccine “can restore protection and provide enhanced protection against the variants currently responsible for most infections and hospitalizations in the United States,” the CDC said. “Hundreds of millions of people have safely received a vaccine under the most intense safety monitoring in U.S. history.”

Most health insurance plans should cover the updated boosters for free. You also can go to your local community health center, and pharmacies. The CDC’s Bridge Access Program provides free COVID-19 vaccines to adults who have no health insurance, or adults whose insurance doesn’t cover COVID vaccines. Free COVID-vaccines will be available until Dec. 31, 2024.

This winter is the first season where vaccines are available for the three viruses that cause most hospitalizations: COVID, RSV (respiratory syncytial virus, a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms, but in elders can lead to hospitalization), and flu. There are at-home tests for these viruses. The CDC expects that consumers will need updated shots annually, as with the flu vaccine.

The people who can get the new booster include:

· Individuals 5 years and older, at least two months after their last dose of any COVID vaccine.

· Children between 6 months and 4 years of age who have previously been vaccinated can get one or two doses of the updated vaccine.

· Unvaccinated children between 6 months and 4 years of age can get three doses of the Pfizer vaccine or two doses of the Moderna vaccine. The first two doses are administered three weeks apart, a third dose, if needed, is administered at least eight weeks after the second dose.·

For months, the CDC debated whether to recommend that the boosters be limited only to high risk groups like the elderly. But now everyone over 6 months is urged to get the latest COVID booster, because if everyone got vaccinated, 100,000 more hospitalizations each year could be prevented than if only the elderly were vaccinated.

Over time, as COVID dragged on, “pandemic weariness” set in, and fewer and fewer people chose to get booster shots. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, after the last booster came out in 2022, only 17% of Americans got it. Those who did get the booster “were far less likely to get very sick of die,” the Foundation reported. Moderna and Pfizer are charging as much as $130 a shot, and have conducted a broad marketing campaign to promote booster vaccinations.

COVID shots provide protection against hospitalization and death that lasts longer than their protection against the illness, which weakens fairly quickly. Some doctors have expressed “widespread skepticism” about the boosters, says the KFF. “Many doctors think the focus should be on vaccinating those truly at risk.”

This winter, it’s likely that many older adults will take 3 shots: one for the flu, one for RSV, and one for COVID. According to the KFF, elders who get flu shots and COVID shots together might have a slightly higher risk of stroke, so it might be safer not to get them together.

A surge in RSV infections, an increase in COVID transmission, and an early flu season, has raised CDC concerns of a ‘tripledemic’ of respiratory illness in the coming months, higher than pre-pandemic levels. Ask your health care provider what shots you need this season, and where to get them.

Al Norman is a community activist and author who worked for more than three decades in the elderly home care field in Massachusetts. His columns are featured each month in the Recorder.