【《We Chinese in AmericaMedia Editor Tang Zhao, September 28, 2022About 40,000 Americans died of Covid this summer. That toll means that Covid is continuing to kill many more people each day than vehicle crashes, gun violence, the flu or many other health threats. (IPhoto Credit : OCHD.org)

The situation is especially tragic because most of these Covid deaths could have been prevented — if only more Americans had received vaccine shots, including booster shots for older people and others with vulnerable health.

 

Covid is killing almost nobody under 50 and is hospitalizing very few people. The death and hospitalization rates also remain low among older people who are boosted. And in all of these groups, severe Covid illness is concentrated among people who have significant underlying medical problems.

The main reason so many Americans are still dying from Covid is that vaccination and booster rates are not higher. Only about half of adults have received a booster shot, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s most recent poll. More than 20 percent have not received any vaccine shot.

Do boosters matter?

Yes, boosters matter. The biggest benefit is a reduction in severe illness among vulnerable people, as Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Brown University, said. For that reason, anybody over 50 who has not yet received a booster shot in 2022 should consider getting one as soon as possible.

(One exception: If you recently had Covid, you should wait several months before getting a booster.)

The most effective way to reduce Covid deaths, however, does not involve boosters. It involves persuading more unvaccinated Americans to get their first shot. Their risks are far higher than the risks facing the unboosted. Unfortunately, public health officials acknowledge that they don’t know how to increase that number very much. About four-fifths of the unvaccinated — a group that is disproportionately Republican — say they will “definitely not” get a shot, according to Kaiser.

Covid remains so deadly largely because millions of Americans have decided they would rather accept its risks than receive a vaccine shot.

Do younger people need one?

Whether to get a booster shot is a closer call for healthy people under 50, many experts believe. Rates of severe Covid are already so low among this group that booster shots don’t seem to have a huge health benefit. Of course, the downsides of the shots also seem to be small, because research has consistently shown them to be safe.

But getting a booster shot is not wholly without downsides. Some people are fearful of needles or prefer to avoid taking unnecessary medicines. Other people were sick for a day or two after getting an earlier Covid shot and would prefer not to repeat the experience.

 

For one thing, the data suggests that a booster reduces a person’s chances of being infected with Covid, at least for a few months, and even a moderate Covid infection can keep somebody in bed for days. It can sometimes lead to longer-term symptoms, too. Perhaps most important, a younger person could infect an older person for whom Covid might be more severe.

“You’re doing it for your family and your friends,” Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House’s Covid coordinator, told The Washington Post. The Biden administration has recently changed its guidance to recommend that all eligible people 12 and above receive a booster shot with one of the updated vaccines. Jha recently said that he expected a Covid shot to become an annual ritual, like a flu shot.

 
 

What about new boosters?

Pfizer and Moderna began offering bivalent booster shots in September, designed to combat Omicron subvariants of the Covid virus. Tests in animals have suggested that the shots will do a better job preventing infections than earlier vaccine shots.

So far, the real-world evidence is unclear. The truth is we don’t know.  The situation will become clearer once the C.D.C. releases more data in coming weeks.

But most people don’t need to worry too much about these fine differences. The new boosters, like the earlier versions, are likely to be extremely effective at preventing severe illness, scientists say. For people who are more vulnerable to severe Covid, either because of age or a health condition, the best advice has not changed: Stay up-to-date on your Covid boosters.

The following is an updated interim guidance from CDC allows for millions of Americans who are at highest risk for COVID-19 to receive a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 booster shot to help increase their protection.

CDC recommends:

·         people 65 years and older and residents in long-term care settings should receive a booster shot of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine at least 6 months after their Pfizer-BioNTech primary series,

·         people aged 50–64 years with underlying medical conditions should receive a booster shot of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine at least 6 months after their Pfizer-BioNTech primary series,

·         people aged 18–49 years with underlying medical conditions may receive a booster shot of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine at least 6 months after their Pfizer-BioNTech primary series, based on their individual benefits and risks, and

·         people aged 18-64 years who are at increased risk for COVID-19 exposure and transmission because of occupational or institutional setting may receive a booster shot of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine at least 6 months after their Pfizer-BioNTech primary series, based on their individual benefits and risks.

(Source: New York Times)

This website has a free subscription function, please enter your email address and name (any nickname) in the upper right corner of the page. After subscribing, you can receive timely updates of the website. I hope that new and old readers will actively subscribe, so that we have the opportunity to provide you with better services

Please click: Home (wechineseus.com) for more news and content on this website

Follow The Chinese Media's Twitter account: https://twitter.com/wechineseinus

Follow The Chinese Media's Facebook account: https://www.facebook.com/wechineseinamerica/

 

Translate

简体中文 繁體中文 English Español

訂閱 Subscribe

---- 訂閱須知 INFO ----本网站已经开通免费订阅功能,请在网页右上角输入您的电邮地址及名字(任何昵称)。订阅后您可以及时收到网站的更新通知。希望新老读者踊跃订阅,让我们有机会能够为您提供更好的服务。In the U.S.A., We Chinese in America is the only magazine focusing on Chinese culture, history, and individuals who have contributed significantly to the Chinese community and/or larger community in general as well as information/news important to readers.To keep you informed of the most updated information/news, please subscribe to "We Chinese in America