“We are preparing ourselves for an awfully busy winter ahead,” Dr. Megan Rainey, associate dean of public health at Brown University, told CNN on Tuesday.
And hospitals are pressing to keep up with the number of patients visiting. Staff shortages and employee fatigue in Pennsylvania hospitals have reached a point where some health systems are offering employees signing up bonuses, loan forgiveness and other incentives. And in Wyoming, about 100 members of the state’s National Guard were activated on Tuesday to assist hospitals dealing with surges.
And though it’s not yet clear what this year’s flu season is all about, it could add additional stress to an already strained health care system.
“The flu is still a killer, not quite as much as COVID-19, but 12,000 to 50,000 Americans lose their lives to the flu each year,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, vaccinologist and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. .
Last year’s flu numbers were actually relatively low, but experts said that’s not necessarily what this year will be like.
“Let’s clarify why the flu cases were so low last year, it’s because we were all masked and we were all away,” Rainey said. “Those things are no longer being done in the vast majority of the country.”
Now, health officials are asking the public to get both their COVID vaccine and the flu shot.
Pediatricians recommend that both adults and children 6 months and older receive flu vaccinations by Halloween, says Texas Children’s Hospital pediatric infectious disease specialist Dr. Flor Munoz told CNN.
Some vaccine clinics across the country are offering both shots – and encouraging people coming for one to make sure they have the other.
“If someone wants a flu vaccine and they don’t have a COVID vaccine, we can encourage them to take both or vice versa,” said Dr. Robert Hopkins, chief of general internal medicine at the University of Arkansas. Chairman of the Medical Sciences and National Vaccine Advisory Committee.
If health care providers can encourage people to do both, “we’re potentially going to have a greater impact on both disease prevention efforts,” Hopkins said.
Two-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine 94% effective, company says
Pfizer has suggested that a third dose of its vaccine will boost protection for those already vaccinated, and now Johnson & Johnson has announced that an additional dose of its vaccine is also helpful.
Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine was granted emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration on February 27. According to the CDC, it has been given to about 14.8 million Americans.
The company released some details of three studies looking at different aspects of its Janssen vaccine, and said that, when taken together, they showed the vaccine provides long-lasting protection that can be increased with an additional shot. Is.
“Our single-shot vaccine generates a strong immune response and long-lasting immune memory. And, when given a booster of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, the strength of protection against COVID-19 is further enhanced ,” Dr Mathai Maimen Janssen, global head of research and development, said in a statement.
An ongoing Phase 2 trial of the company’s two-dose regimen showing two doses 56 days apart provides 100% protection against severe COVID-19 and moderate to severe COVID-19 in the US. Provides 94% protection against
A second study showed that people who were given a booster shot six months or more after their first dose had a 12-fold increase in antibodies – a four-fold increase for those who got a second dose at two months. in comparison. So, protection should be stronger if people get boosters later, said Dr., head of the Beth Israel Deaconess Center for Virology and Vaccine Research. Dan Baruch told CNN.
Death rate four times higher in least vaccinated states
According to a CNN analysis, the 10 least vaccinated states had an average rate of Covid-19 deaths four times higher than in the previous week.
In the least vaccinated states, nearly eight out of every 100,000 residents died of Covid-19 in the past week, while only two out of every 100,000 died in the 10 most vaccinated states.
CNN used data from Johns Hopkins University and the CDC for the analysis.
Hospitalization rates are also higher in states with fewer vaccinations.
The latest data from the US Department of Health and Human Services shows that the 10 least vaccinated states have an average of 39 COVID-19 hospitalizations per 100,000 people, up from an average of 14 per 100,000 people in the 10 most vaccinated states. almost three times the rate. .
The states with the lowest vaccination rates have less than 45% of their residents fully vaccinated. They are Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
The 10 states with the highest vaccination rates have more than 62% of their residents fully vaccinated. They are Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.
CNN’s Kelly Westhoff, Andy Rose, Deidre McPhillips, Jacqueline Howard and Maggie Fox contributed to this report.
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