New Covid shots recommended for Americans 6 months and older this fall

All Americans ages 6 months and older should receive one of the new COVID-19 vaccines when they become available this fall, scientific advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.

This recommendation comes as the country faces a summer wave of Covid, with the number of High infection rates In at least 39 states and territories.

Most Americans have built up layers of immunity to the coronavirus from repeated infections, vaccine doses, or both. Vaccines now provide a gradual boost, and they only last a few months as immunity wanes and the virus continues to evolve.

However, across all age groups, the vast majority of Americans hospitalized with COVID-19 did not receive any of the shots they were offered last fall, according to data presented at a meeting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

“The public and the general public don’t understand how much this virus has mutated,” said Carol Hayes, committee coordinator for the American College of Nurse-Midwives. “You need this year’s vaccine to protect against this year’s strain of the virus.”

A vaccine made by Novavax will target JN.1, the variant that prevailed for several months in the winter and spring. The vaccines to be made by Pfizer and Moderna target KP.2, which until recently appeared poised to be the dominant variant.

But KP.2 appears to be giving way to two related variants, KP.3 and LB.1, which now represent More than half of new cases. All three variants, descended from JN.1, are together nicknamed FLiRT, after a mutation in the virus’s genes containing those letters.

Mutations are believed to help variants. Evading some immune defenses They spread faster as a result, but there is no evidence that the variants cause more severe disease.

Covid-related emergency department visits in the week ending June 15 rose by about 15 percent, and deaths rose by about 17 percent, compared to the previous week’s total. Hospitalizations also appear to be increasing, however directione Based on data from Subset of hospitals which still reports numbers to the CDC even though the requirement to do so expired in May.

Dr. Stephen B. said: “COVID is still here, and I don’t think it will ever go away,” Fore, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, said in an interview.

The greatest risk factor for serious disease is age. Adults aged 65 or older account for two-thirds of COVID hospitalizations and 82 percent of hospital deaths. However, only about 40% of Americans in that age group have been vaccinated with the Covid vaccine introduced last fall.

“This is an area where there is a lot of room for improvement and could prevent a lot of hospitalizations,” said Dr. Fiona Havers, a researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who provided the hospitalization data.

While younger adults are less likely to get seriously ill, no group is completely free of risk, according to CDC researchers. Children — especially those under 5 — are also at risk, but only about 14 percent were vaccinated against Covid last fall.

Many parents mistakenly believe the virus is harmless to children, said Dr. Matthew Daly, a panelist and principal investigator at Kaiser Permanente Colorado.

“Because the burden was so high in older age groups, we lost focus on the absolute burden in pediatric age groups,” Dr. Daly said.

Even if children don’t get sick themselves, they can help spread the virus, especially once they return to school, Dr. Fore said.

“They are the people who, if they get infected, are more likely to pass the virus on to their parents and grandparents. By vaccinating all groups, you are more likely to prevent the spread of the disease,” he said.

Among children, infants under 6 months old were the most affected by Covid, according to data presented at the meeting. But they are not eligible for the new shots.

“It is critical for pregnant women to get vaccinated, not only to protect themselves but also to protect their babies until they are old enough to receive the vaccine,” Dr. Denise Jamison, a symposium participant and dean of the Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa, said in an interview.

Among both children and adults, vaccine coverage was lowest among the groups most at risk from Covid: Native Americans, Black Americans, and Hispanic Americans.

In polls, most Americans who said they probably or definitely would not get vaccinated last fall cited unknown side effects, lack of adequate studies, or distrust of the government and drug companies.

The CDC says the vaccines have been linked to only four serious side effects, but thousands of Americans have filed claims for other medical injuries they say were caused by the shots.

At the meeting, CDC researchers said they had found, for the first time, that Pfizer’s Covid vaccine may have led to four additional cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare neurological condition, for every million doses given to older adults. (The numbers available for the Moderna and Novavax vaccines were too small to analyze.)

The researchers said the risk may not be real, but even if it was, the incidence of Guillain-Barre syndrome is similar to the rate observed with other vaccines.

The agency’s scientists said the CDC has also investigated a possible risk of stroke after vaccination, but the results so far have been inconclusive. In any case, they said, the benefits of the vaccines outweigh the potential harms.

Participants lamented the sharp decline in the number of healthcare providers counseling patients about the importance of the Covid vaccine. Nearly half of caregivers said they do not recommend injections because they believe their patients will refuse.

There is also an increase in physical and verbal abuse in hospitals and health care settings, said Dr. Helen Cape Talbot, professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University and chair of the committee.

“Some of our doctors may not recommend this method due to concerns about their safety and the safety of their staff,” she said.

Although the committee members unanimously recommended Covid vaccination for people of all ages this time, they discussed the feasibility of global recommendations in the future. The vaccines are much more expensive than other vaccines, and are most cost-effective when given to older people.

At the individual level, the Affordable Care Act requires insurance companies, including Medicare and Medicaid, to cover the costs of vaccines recommended by the advisory committee at no cost. But as many as thirty million Americans do not have health insurance.

The Bridge Access program, a federal initiative that makes vaccines available to underinsured and underinsured Americans, is scheduled to expire in August.

Panelists said that unless vaccine prices fall, the cost of vaccinating all Americans may not be sustainable.

“As more and more of the population is exposed to the vaccine or the disease, it will become less cost-effective,” Dr. Talbot said. “We will need a less expensive vaccine to make this work.”