Okay, okay; I know that my weekly posts on COVID these past two years have been titled This Week in COVID. The last three weeks or so, COVID has slowly moved into the background. The so-called Tripledemic of COVID-Influenza-RSV has faded as well. All three are illnesses that tend to have seasonal surges, and their season, this year, is ending. Good for us!
Here is Dr. Klotman’s weekly COVID address. It is short and easily digestible, but if you want an even more abbreviated take, here it is.
- The Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant is now the most prevalent cause of new COVID cases in the US. NO surprise here.
- The case and hospitalization rates have leveled off. COVID is now behaving like an endemic respiratory illness. It is here to stay in the long term.
- Vaccination continues to be our most important weapon against COVID.
- The COVID vaccine is very effective in preventing COVID among children 6mo-4yrs of age.
Dr. Klotman also addresses news concerning Norovirus vaccine development. I’ve had norovirus, and it was 48 hrs. of unrelenting nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. I’ll take the vaccine as soon as it becomes available! Dr. Klotman also mentions a likely annual adult vaccine for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) in the near future.
Items not included in Dr. Klotman’s weekly briefing but in my daily medical newsfeeds include:
- A recent analysis of the threats posed by COVID and Influenza infections shows that COVID is still 54% more likely to cause death than Influenza is.
- Another study that examined the benefit of COVID antivirals among people already vaccinated against COVID showed that both Paxlovid and Remdesivir decreased the risk of serious COVID complications in such individuals but that molnupiravir did not.
For the record, both of our grandchildren (not yet 5 years old) have had their COVID vaccinations. Our son is an Infectious Disease specialist, and we back his assessment of risk vs benefit for childhood vaccinations.