BCM’s Dr. Klotman’s weekly YouTube post this week did not address COVID. Instead, it focused on BCM’s special programs with HISD middle and high schools. Since that topic would not have much interest among my far-flung FB friends, I decided to post my own abbreviated COVID report.
The USA continues to experience a few hundred COVID deaths every week; they continue to occur mostly among the elderly and immunocompromised. That means that COVID will likely take its place among other viral respiratory pneumonias such as Influenza that are part of our infectious disease landscape. Influenza, by the way, gives us a pandemic about every ten years as the virus mutates in its common hosts – humans, birds, and swine. It would not be surprising if something like that occurs with SARS-CoV-2 disease; variants sufficiently unlike the familiar major strains of COVID (Wuhan, Delta, Omicron) will probably arise from time-to-time causing spikes in disease, hospitalization, and death.
For the moment, the WHO is recommending that any subsequent COVID boosters target the variant family XBB. Such a vaccine is not yet available, but Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax report that they are developing a vaccine to XBB.1.5 and possibly other XBB variants.
You likely remember that the COVID vaccines produce a robust immune response for about six months before immunity begins to wane. I’m past the six-month mark since my last booster. I’m going to try to wait until fall to see whether the new XBB vaccine is available before taking another booster. These decisions, like trying to plan when to get the next Flu shot, involve a certain amount of guesswork. Often, it comes down to what is available, and how much disease activity there is at the time one decides.
Sometimes, Life can seem like a crapshoot.