Peak protection from vaccines takes around 2 weeks to ramp up, so NOW is the perfect time.
Go get your flu, COVID, and RSV vaccines NOW to be protected for the holidays.
Peak protection from vaccines takes around 2 weeks to ramp up, so now is the perfect time. No one wants to fall ill right before a big holiday family gathering. You also don’t want to be the one to infect grandparents, babies, or otherwise vulnerable loved ones.
Vaccines are one of the best tools we have to stay safe, but only if we use them!
The flu season is off to a late start, but is ramping up now.
The figure below is from the week ending November 23rd, so Thanksgiving travel and get-togethers likely bumped this activity up further. The biggest increase was seen in kids, including an increase in pediatric emergency room visits. Sadly, 206 kids in the US died in the last flu season, so don’t forget to get your kids their protection too.
Source: https://www.cdc.gov/fluview/surveillance/2024-week-47.html
Covid levels are low compared to the summer and fall, but still circulating and poised to increase.
It’s really good news that COVID levels are currently lower than has been typical this time of year. This may help alleviate the pressure on hospitals that happens when flu, COVID, and RSV peak at the same time. We may be benefiting from high levels of population immunity from the large summer/early fall COVID wave. But holiday travel and festive indoor gatherings are likely to increase transmission relatively soon. And it’s important to remember that even when COVID levels are “low,” we are still seeing several hundred COVID deaths per week.
Now is a great time to get the updated vaccine to top up your protection before the winter surge.
Source: https://www.cdc.gov/fluview/surveillance/2024-week-47.html
The updated COVID vaccine is a good fit to currently circulating variants.
Both the updated mRNA and Novavax vaccines for this season have shown good cross protection against the currently dominant KP.3.1.1 and XEC variants in animal models, and neutralize these variants better than last year’s shot.
Hot off-the-press data from humans also shows a significant increase in neutralizing antibodies against the newer variants from the updated KP.2 mRNA vaccines. This is represented by the red dots showing increases in neutralizing antibodies after vaccination:
Figure 1: SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody responses before and after a KP.2 monovalent mRNA vaccine booster (Source: https://tinyurl.com/yv74uem4)
We also have good evidence that last year’s COVID shots lowered the risk of ending up in the hospital or the ICU. It also lowers your chance of getting an infection and feeling lousy in the short term. Read more good reasons to get your COVID shot here.
Don’t forget about RSV!
RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) cases are also rising. This is the 2nd year we have had effective vaccines for another serious winter respiratory pathogen, RSV. If you are aged 60 or over, or in your last trimester of pregnancy, now is a great time to get vaccinated.
Read more about who is eligible for an RSV vaccine here.
Source: https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/data/activity-levels.html
Reminders:
✅ If it’s been at least 3 months since a COVID infection, you can still benefit from an updated shot before the holidays.
✅ You can get the flu, COVID, and RSV vaccines at the same time.
✅ Kids can get very sick with COVID and should get the vaccine too. The updated shot is recommended for everyone ages 6 months and older.
Run, don’t walk to go get your protection before the holidays!
Stay safe, stay well.
Love,
Those Nerdy Girls
