Yes, older Americans should get one other COVID shot — but in the event you've already gotten the newest version, there's no have to rush.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced last week that it affects people 65 and older or with weakened immune systems I would like a second dose of the brand new vaccine published in September.
However, it’s best to wait six months after the primary dose. That means you won't be eligible until next March on the earliest.
Why is the CDC promoting two doses while the primary continues to be within the rollout phase?
“It’s predictive,” based on infection trends over the past few years, Castro Valley said Dr. Jeffrey Silvers, medical director of pharmacy and infection control at Sutter Health. This is the second yr in a row that the CDC has issued a semi-annual suggestion.
Scientists now know that two doses are needed annually to keep up immunity and sustain with the virus's mutation games, said Silvers, who serves as an adviser on the virus California Vaccine Coalition, a nonprofit public-private partnership aimed toward reducing infectious disease rates.
The annual fall and spring rollouts can be considered one of the ways we permanently integrate the COVID virus into our every day lives.
In the meantime, if you might have been delaying your first dose of the updated 2024-2025 COVID vaccine, now could be the time. Last yr, only 40% of older adults received one dose of a revised vaccine. Willingness to receive two doses was even lower: 8.9% of older adults and 5.4% of immunocompromised adults received each doses.
The complexity of the schedule and frequent changes in vaccination recommendations have led to confusion and lower uptake, it said CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Of course, it's difficult to muster enthusiasm for vaccinations for six months. But formalizing a two-dose schedule for fall and spring should help.
The goal is to develop a vaccination regimen that protects probably the most vulnerable population groups for so long as possible. It is an update to recommendations from last summer, when no additional doses were really useful for older adults.
If you're like lots of us, you've probably lost track of how over and over you've been vaccinated.
It's time to stop counting, experts say. Rather, it is dependent upon how long you might have received a vaccination. Protection against severe COVID-19 illness requiring emergency room or hospitalization wears off inside 4 to 6 months.
Before you schedule your appointment, here's what it’s best to know.
Q: We don't need two doses of flu vaccine. Why two doses of COVID yearly? For some diseases, just one vaccination is required in a lifetime.
A: “Stable” viruses that don’t multiply quickly require fewer booster vaccinations because there may be lasting immunity. For example, we only need a tetanus shot every 10 years. Measles, smallpox and polio require one vaccination in life.
In contrast, each flu and COVID viruses reproduce quickly. This means they’ve many probabilities to create further mutations that produce recent variants that evade immune protection.
The flu virus may be very seasonal. (If it stayed there, two shots would even be required.)
COVID circulates year-round, with peaks in winter and late summer. That's why we want more frequent protection.
Q: Are two doses enough for immunocompromised people?
A: Not necessarily. CDC experts, in consultation together with your doctor, recommend additional doses – three or much more – of the brand new vaccine for individuals with moderate to severe immunodeficiency.
However, they really useful waiting two months between each vaccination, depending on the patient's circumstances.
Q: Will the second dose be the identical because the dose released in September?
A: Yes. But it’s different from the 2023-2024 vaccine.
Q: How is the 2024-2025 vaccine different from last yr's vaccine?
A: The current vaccine more closely targets the JN.1 lineage of the Omicron variant of the virus. The vaccine, introduced last fall, targeted the XBB.1.5 strain. After this updated vaccine was introduced last fall, JN.1 emerged with greater than 30 recent mutations, worrying experts.
Q: Can I mix the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines?
A: It isn’t really useful.
From yr to yr, it's okay to get vaccines from different manufacturers. But in the event you're getting the second dose of a two-dose series, experts on the Oct. 24 meeting of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices really useful sticking with the identical manufacturer. A dose from one other manufacturer could also be given if the identical vaccine isn’t available or the previous manufacturer is unknown.
Q: I used to be sick with COVID through the summer surge. Am I eligible for the 2024-2025 vaccine?
A: Yes, but wait three months after your illness. They still have some protection, so a vaccine isn’t required.
Q: Why is a second dose not really useful for younger people?
A: A second dose won’t harm a teenager and is protective. However, the CDC is most concerned about hospitalizations and deaths among the many elderly and immunocompromised people because their immunity is weakened.
When we’re young, our bodies have a well-tuned protective network against foreign invaders just like the COVID virus. The thymus gland, which produces infection-fighting T cells, reaches its maximum size during puberty after which steadily shrinks.
Older people experience a decline within the number, activity and variety of T cells, a process scientists call “immunosenescence.” By age 50, our T cell production is lower than 10% of its peak, making it harder for older people to clear the virus from their blood. Older persons are also more prone to develop chronic inflammation of the lungs and other organs.
And younger people are inclined to get well from illness. When they get sick, “younger people who are otherwise healthy tend to be able to weather the storm a little better,” Silvers said.
Q: Are we destined to receive continually updated COVID vaccines throughout our lives?
A: Not if the research is successful. Federally funded scientific teams are working to develop a “universal” vaccine that confers immunity against many virus variants – even versions that don't yet exist. They hope to do that by targeting a region of the virus that stays the identical even when it mutates.
Such targets are often those least accessible to the immune system. This presents vaccine researchers with a serious challenge. But with recent advances in vaccine technology, researchers consider universal vaccines are closer to reality than ever before.
COVID-19 VACCINATION PLAN 2024-2025:
Children aged 6 months to 4 years
• Unvaccinated: Should receive an initial multiple-dose series of an mRNA vaccine in 2024-2025
• Previously accomplished a primary series: Should receive 1 dose of an mRNA vaccine for 2024-2025 from the identical manufacturer as the primary series
People aged 5-64:
• Should receive one dose of the 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine
People aged 65 and over:
• Should receive 2 doses of any 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine, 6 months apart
People with moderate or severe immunodeficiency
• Unvaccinated: Complete initial series, then at the very least 1 vaccination dose in 2024-2025, with option for more
• Vaccinated: 2 or more doses of the 2024-2025 mRNA vaccine, 6 months apart. May receive three or more COVID-19 vaccine doses for 2024-2025 through shared clinical decision-making
Source: CDC
Originally published:
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