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As the country reports a giant COVID-19 surge in the summer, the Food and Drug Administration plans to approve this year’s COVID-19 vaccines as soon as this week, according to a CNN report that mentions anonymous officials familiar with it. with the case.
Last year, the FDA gave the green light to the 2023-2024 COVID vaccines on Sept. 11, as SARS-CoV-2 transmission was nearing the peak of that year’s summer. This year, the summer wave has already begun and, according to some indicators, it is reaching much higher levels than in previous years.
Currently, detections of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater show “very high” degrees of the virus in 32 states and the District of Columbia. Eleven states are indexed with “high” grades of the country are recently reporting levels of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater that rival the winter surges of 2022-2023 and 2023-2024, either of which peaked in late December.
Test positivity, a metric that has weakened due to the dramatic decline in checks, shows a weekly test positivity rate of 18. 1% for mid-August (out of a check volume of about 43,000). This rate, if it does indeed reflect cases, had not been observed since the first wave of Omicrons in January 2022, which peaked at 30. 5% (with a check volume of approximately 991,000).
The good news is that, given the really extensive increase in coverage against infections and beyond vaccines, the two most severe symptoms — emergency room visits and deaths — have not shown similar increases. The weekly percentage of emergency branch visits with a COVID-19 diagnosis is low and similar to last summer’s wave. Deaths are also low, still only provisional figures for the last few weeks.
The FDA has steadfastly pursued a strategy of offering annual COVID-19 vaccines as winter waves approach, not summer waves. The agency’s concept has been to inspire Americans to get vaccinated against flu and COVID-19 in combination between September and November, just before a series of respiratory illnesses caused by cold weather begin. The new vaccination campaign can alleviate degrees of serious respiratory illnesses in a time when fitness systems are at the highest risk of being overwhelmed.
But while seasonal flu and some other respiratory viruses appear almost exclusively in winter, the seasonality of COVID-19 has never been obvious. And so far, the summer surges have given the impression of being winter-like, creating some obstacles to distribution. of vaccines.
Some experts have been vaccinated against COVID-19 to protect themselves from the summer surge. “Now is the time to get a dose with this surge,” Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told CNN on Sunday.
However, the only vaccines available lately target last year’s strains (related to omicron KP. 2). Although the vaccine targeting KP. 2 for 2024-2025 was approved by the FDA this week and will hit pharmacies next week, it takes two weeks for one dose to produce full protection. By then, the summer surge is most likely slowing down. In fact, it seems to have already peaked in some parts of the country, adding parts of the south and west.
The other thing is the time to ensure maximum coverage in the face of the likely winter surge. For other healthy people five years and older, the CDC recommended getting only one shot last year. The injections provide maximum coverage for about 4 months. If you get your annual vaccine in early September, your coverage will likely decrease if COVID-19 peaks at the beginning of the year, as it has in the previous two years.
Under the 2023-2024 guidelines, seniors age 65 and older can receive a second COVID-19 booster dose four months after receiving the first. Americans with moderate to severe immunodeficiency could also receive additional doses of the updated COVID-19 vaccine.
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