Does it feel like we can’t catch a break? With rising COVID-19 cases, increasing cases of monkeypox and now the first case of vaccine-derived polio in the United States in nearly a decade, it feels like the hits just keep coming.
The CDC is recommending that immunized adults and children 5 years and older follow up with a vaccination booster in five months, and those 50 and older get a second booster shot for renewed protection. But so far, the CDC reports that only about half of adults have gotten a booster and just 28% of those age 50 and older have received a second dose, which provides even further protection from the illness.
Here's a rundown of possible treatments U.S. President Joe Biden will receive for COVID-19 and the risks he faces, having been infected most likely with the fast-spreading but less severe BA.5 variant.
While possible, it’s unlikely BA.5 will keep circulating over the next few months as the population builds up immunity against the subvariant. It’s more likely that a new variant or subvariant of omicron will emerge as the virus attempts to bypass that immunity and infect as many people as it can.
Experts say that interacting with other infected people will unlikely make your COVID-19 infection longer or worse. But this doesn’t mean that you should fill up your social calendar while you’re trying to recover from the virus.
Experts are tracking a collision of high influenza and COVID-19 cases in countries like Australia, where winter has already arrived. The country is already in winter and the caseloads there could be a harbinger of things to come this fall and winter in the U.S.
Vaccine supply is limited, distribution has run into roadblocks, and it has proven difficult to prioritize the highest-risk individuals for shots. The result is that, at least in certain areas, demand is overwhelming available supply.
Proponents argue that this kind of data is crucial for understanding — and preventing — pandemics. But critics say that scientists should not run experiments that might make viruses better able to spread among people, given the small but real chance that these altered pathogens might infect lab workers and escape into the outside world.
Facing yet another COVID-19 variant, this one said to be faster and stealthier than those before it, health officials say the calculus has changed and are urging booster shots even more strongly to buck up the country’s armor. Anna Durbin and David Dowdy are quoted.
