WHO sees ‘incredibly low’ flu and Covid vaccination rates on the rise

LONDON/CHICAGO:

Low vaccination rates against the latest versions of Covid-19 and the flu are putting pressure on health care systems this winter, top public health officials told Reuters. In the United States, many European countries and other parts of the world, there have been reports of increasing hospitalizations linked to respiratory infections in recent weeks. Death rates have also risen among the elderly in some areas, but well below the peak of the Covid pandemic.

The Spanish government has reinstated mask-wearing requirements in healthcare facilities, as have some US hospital chains.

“Too many people need serious medical care for influenza, for Covid, when we can prevent it,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization’s interim director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness.

He reported “incredibly low” flu and Covid vaccination rates in many countries this season as the world tries to overcome the pandemic and its restrictions.

Governments have struggled to communicate the risks Covid still poses and the benefits of vaccination since it was declared a global public health emergency in May 2023, infectious disease experts and health officials said.

Reading The UK’s Sunak tells the Covid inquiry that it feels deeply sorry for the bereaved families

Only 19.4% of US adults has received this season’s Covid vaccine based on the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Preventive Vaccination Survey, despite the recommendation that all adults receive an up-to-date vaccine to protect against serious illness.

That compares to about 17% of adults who received the bivalent booster in 2022-2023, based on actual vaccine data reported to the CDC by states.

Nearly half of U.S. adults over 18 got a flu shot this season (44.9%), about the same as last year (44%), according to the CDC.

“We don’t think enough people have gotten the updated Covid vaccine,” CDC Director Mandy Cohen said in an interview. “People still don’t understand that Covid is still a more serious illness than the flu.”

VACCINE LAPTOP Influenza accounted for 5.2% of emergency room visits in the US compared to 3% for Covid in the week ending December 30. However, Covid accounted for 10.5 per 100,000 hospitalizations in that period, compared to 6.1 per 100,000 for influenza.

Most of the updated shots used in the U.S. and European Union are made by Pfizer ( PFE.N ) with German partner BioNTech ( 22UAy.DE ) or Moderna

Reading Ask for home remedies to avoid the flu

In Europe, influenza is circulating at a higher rate than Covid, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has announced. Overall, 24% of a representative sample of tests came back positive in the last week of 2023, up from 19% a fortnight earlier.

The rates are in line with previous flu seasons, ECDC respiratory virus expert Edoardo Colzani said. But “now we have Covid-19 as a new, unwelcome visitor,” he said.

The ECDC did not have vaccination rates for the continent for influenza or Covid, but Colzani said early data showed that uptake of the Covid vaccine is well below pandemic levels.

In Europe, the new Covid vaccines are only recommended for high-risk groups such as the elderly and the immunocompromised. Among these groups, the WHO says there should be 100% coverage. Covid rates also increase in the southern hemisphere during their summer, the WHO said, 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 from November of 52% and 23% respectively, according to the WHO, which added that the actual figures are likely higher.

Reading Pneumonia scare grips Punjab

Vaccines are still very effective at preventing serious illness, even if they don’t prevent infection, experts said.

A recent study in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal from the Karolinska Institutet and Danderyd Hospital in Sweden found that the updated vaccine, which targets the XBB.1.5 variant of the coronavirus, reduced the risk of Covid hospitalization by 76.1% in people suffering from more recent variations. in public health records from adults over 65 years of age.

This year’s flu shots, made by a number of manufacturers, are estimated to reduce the risk of hospitalization by 52%.

But “Covid vaccination fatigue” is holding back uptake, Colzani said. In Italy, for example, 8.6% of the eligible population had a third reminder of Covid after the initial round of vaccinations, according to Health Ministry data from January 7.

Flu data is not yet available, but a study by Federfarma, the Italian pharmacy association, said 15 percent of Italians had been vaccinated against the flu this fall, compared with just over 20 percent last season.