COVID Updates -- June 2022
COVID Updates -- June 2022
There is good news & bad news this week
What do you want to hear first — the good news? or the bad news?
Personally, I like to hear the bad news first. That way I end the conversation on a positive note. If you prefer to hear the good news first, feel free to start below and work your way to the top.
Bad (not too good) News —
COVID cases globally have increased by 33% during the past two weeks. Last week 4.1 million cases were reported worldwide. And because the global health community is only counting PCR tests in these counts, this 4.1 million cases is a gross underestimate of the true number of new COVID cases. The BA.4 and BA.5 variants (which are super contagious) are the cause of about 55% of all cases.
The pandemic is changing, BUT IT IS NOT OVER.
COVID is still spreading around the globe. New variants are evolving (because the virus is so easily getting into the bodies of so many humans). In the United States, more than 32,000 people are being hospitalized every day with COVID and 388 individuals are dying. Individuals who are unvaccinated are 42 times more likely to die from COVID compared to individuals who are vaccinated.
Please hear this — vaccines work. They prevent hospitalizations and death from COVID. And they do slow the spread of disease and help individuals to clear the virus quickly. VACCINES WORK. We all (including our youngest kids) should be vaccinated.
(More bad news) We are expecting a resurgence in cases in the fall.
The plan is to use vaccines to prevent COVID hospitalizations and deaths. And can treat individuals with antivirals to shorten the period of time they are ill and further prevent hospitalizations and deaths. Additionally, masks can be used to reduce exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and quarantine and isolation will reduce the spread of disease from person to person. The pandemic is not over. And while this does not mean we need to mask all the time or stay home as we did in 2020 (pre-vaccines), we all will need to use disease mitigation practices to slow the spread of disease in the coming months/years.
Staying healthy in the future will take work — getting vaccinated, masking when necessary, isolating when sick, quarantining if exposed, and getting antiviral treatment if diagnosed with COVID.
This leads us to the GOOD NEWS —
Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for children under 5 years were approved for use last week (they became widely available a week ago). Vaccines for our youngest kids are both safe and effective.
For parents (and grandparents) with kids under 5 here is what you need to know —
Yes, all children under 5 need to be vaccinated.
Hospitalizations and deaths from COVID do occur in our young kids. And the truth is we do not know how to predict which children will end up in the hospital or will die from COVID. Vaccines are the ONLY way to reduce a child’s risk of COVID hospitalizations and deaths.
Kids do suffer from long COVID and serious side effects, including MIS-C. Again, we do not know how to predict which children will suffer these consequences. BUT vaccines reduce the risks of these serious consequences.
Vaccines reduce the number of infections and transmission of the disease.
Very few side effects (none of them severe) were reported following vaccination.
If I had a child who was between 6 months and 5 years of age, YES — I would get them vaccinated. And, honestly, I would try to get them a Moderna shot. The Moderna vaccine requires only two jabs (compared to 3 Pfizer), and the evidence from the clinical trials of the Moderna vaccine provided stronger evidence of efficacy against COVID infection, hospitalizations, and deaths. The Pfizer vaccine is fine, but if it were me I would seek out the Moderna vaccine for my kid.
Another piece of good news — last week the FDA VRBPAC (Vaccines & Related Biologic Products Advisory Committee) voted to approve an Omicron-specific COVID-19 booster shot for the fall.
Why is this good news? Well, the vaccines we have all received were created using the original COVID virus (the one that was circulating in 2019-20). Over the past two years, the virus has evolved and vaccine protection is waning. Given that we are expecting a resurgence in cases in the fall, a new booster shot designed to target the BA.4 and BA.5 variants is needed.
The FDA still needs to approve the Omicron-specific booster. And they will need to decide who will be eligible for the new booster shot and when. Stay tuned… more information to come, but approval from the VRBPAC is an important first step in our future fight against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
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On a personal note, my youngest (who is 10) received his booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine this past week. Our family is now fully boosted! And we are looking forward to a summer full of visits to the wave pool and the beach, long bike rides, a vacation with our pod family, and late nights catching fireflies, eating ice cream, and roasting marshmallows.
