Americans are sick of vaccination amid flu season, COVID boosters: data

Health

By mlallanillanyp1

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of complacency.

That’s the message delivered today — as the viral disease season begins — by Dr. Mandy Cohen, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at a news conference attended by The Post.

“Sadly, we lost 21,000 people to flu last season,” Cohen said, noting that vaccine hesitancy has worsened in recent years: “Last season, fewer people were getting the flu vaccine than they were pre-pandemic.”

Cohen emphasized that COVID-19 remains a threat, especially for vulnerable populations.

“Half of our young children in the ICU with COVID have no underlying conditions,” she noted, adding that the updated COVID-19 vaccine is recommended for everyone — even toddlers — over the age of 6 months.

The threat goes beyond COVID-19 and flu, however: “We are already seeing a rise in RSV cases and hospitalizations,” Cohen added, referring to respiratory syncytial virus.

Cohen joined other experts at the news conference in noting how their own children and family members had already started getting vaccinations to fend off this winter’s “tripledemic.”

“As a CDC director and a mom and wife and daughter, I wouldn’t recommend something to the American people that I wouldn’t do with my own family,” Cohen said. “It’s exciting that we have these tools.”

The excitement about vaccines fades, however, when data from the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases are reviewed.

A new NFID survey reveals nearly two-thirds of US adults (65%) agree that vaccination is the best way to prevent flu-related hospitalizations and deaths — but 43% of adults do not plan to or are unsure if they will get the flu vaccine.

And while updated COVID-19 vaccines are strongly recommended, only 40% plan to get vaccinated against COVID-19 — and among adults age 60 years and older, only 40% plan to get vaccinated against RSV.

“To us in this business, that is really worrisome,” said NFID president Patricia Stinchfield. “We have work to do,” because “there continues to be significant mis- and disinformation about vaccines.”

“These vaccines may not be perfect, but they turn a wild infection into a mild infection,” added Dr. William Schaffner, professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

To conquer vaccine hesitancy, Dr. Keith Ferdinand, professor of medicine at Tulane University, emphasized meeting the public where they are.

“We need to go into the community, to faith-based centers, wherever people are,” Ferdinand said, noting that when they’re advised to talk to their doctor, “many people don’t even have a primary care physician!

“We waste lives with these preventable deaths,” Ferdinand added. “It’s also a moral issue.”