1705191402
Low vaccination rates against the latest versions of COVID-19 and flu are straining health systems this winter, senior public health officials told Reuters.
An increase in hospitalizations related to respiratory infections has been reported in the United States, several European countries and other parts of the world in recent weeks. Mortality rates have also increased among older people in some regions, but are well below the peak of the bird flu pandemic.
The Spanish government has reintroduced the requirement to wear a mask in healthcare facilities, as have some American hospital networks.
“Too many people need serious medical care for flu and COVID when we can avoid them,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, acting director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness at the World Health Organization.
She pointed to the incredibly low flu and COVID vaccination rates in many countries this season as the world tries to overcome the pandemic and its restrictions.
Since declaring a global health emergency in May, governments have struggled to communicate the risks COVID still poses and the benefits of vaccination, infectious disease experts and health officials say. 2023.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Immunization Survey, only 19.4% of U.S. adults have received this season’s COVID vaccine, even though all adults are recommended to get vaccinated to protect against serious illness allow.
In comparison, 17% of adults received the bivalent booster in the 2022-2023 season, based on vaccine data reported by states to the CDC.
Nearly half of U.S. adults 18 and older received a flu shot this season (44.9%), about the same percentage as last year (44%), according to the CDC.
“We don’t believe enough people have received the updated COVID vaccine,” CDC Director Mandy Cohen said in an interview. People still don’t understand that COVID remains a more serious illness than the flu.
Vaccine fatigue
Flu accounted for 5.2% of emergency room visits in the United States in the week ending Dec. 30, compared to 3% for COVID. Still, COVID caused 10.5 hospitalizations per 100,000 during that period, compared to 6.1 per 100,000 for the flu.
Most of the updated vaccines used in the United States and the European Union are made by Pfizer along with its German partner BioNTech or Moderna.
According to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), influenza is spreading more frequently than COVID in Europe. Overall, 24% of a representative sample of tests came back positive in the final week of 2023, compared to 19% two weeks earlier.
These rates are consistent with previous flu seasons, said Edoardo Colzani, a respiratory virus expert at the ECDC. But now we have COVID-19 as a new unwelcome guest, he added.
The ECDC does not have the continent’s flu or COVID vaccination rates, but Colzani said early data shows COVID vaccine uptake is well below pandemic levels.
In Europe, new COVID vaccines are only recommended for high-risk groups such as the elderly and immunocompromised people. According to WHO estimates, the vaccination rate for these groups is likely to be 100%.
According to the WHO, COVID rates also increase in the southern hemisphere in the summer because it is not yet a seasonal virus.
Last month, 850,000 new COVID cases and 118,000 new hospitalizations were reported worldwide, an increase of 52% and 23%, respectively, from November, according to the WHO, which adds that the actual numbers are likely higher.
Experts say vaccines remain highly effective at preventing serious disease even if they don’t block infection.
A recent study from Karolinska Institutet and Danderyd Hospital in Sweden, published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, found that the updated vaccine targeting the XBB.1.5 variant of the coronavirus reduced the risk of COVID hospitalization in the Affected individuals reduced newer variants by 76.1%, based on public health records of adults over 65 years of age.
This year’s flu vaccines from various manufacturers are estimated to reduce the risk of hospitalization by 52%.
But COVID vaccine fatigue is hindering vaccine uptake, Colzani said.
In Italy, for example, according to data from the Ministry of Health on January 7, 8.6% of the eligible population received their third COVID booster shot after the first series of vaccinations.
Flu data is not yet available, but a study by Federfarma, the Italian pharmacy association, shows that 15% of Italians were vaccinated against the flu this fall, compared to just over 20% last season. (Reporting by Jennifer Rigby in London and Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago; additional reporting by Emilio Parodi in Milan and Andrew Silver in Shanghai; Writing by Michele Gershberg and Bill Berkrot)
#considers #vaccination #rates #COVID #flu #incredibly #increasing #number #cases #January #a.m