American coronavirus: between Covid-19 and the flu, health professionals are preparing for the coming winter, according to an expert

“The flu is still a killer, not as much as Covid-19, but between 12,000 and 50,000 Americans die each year from the flu,” said the vaccinologist and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine in Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. Peter Hotez. .

The flu count was actually relatively low last year, but experts said that doesn’t necessarily foreshadow how this year will unfold.

“Let’s be clear on why flu cases were so low last year is because we were all masked and we were all walking away,” Ranney said. “These things are no longer being done in the vast majority of the country.”

Now, health officials are asking the public to get the flu and flu shots.

Pediatricians recommend that adults and children 6 months and older be vaccinated against the flu before Halloween, Dr. Flor Munoz, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Texas Children’s Hospital, told CNN.

Some immunization clinics across the country offer both vaccines – and encourage people who come for one to make sure they have the other.

“If someone wants to get the flu shot and they haven’t had a Covid vaccine, we can encourage them to get both, or vice versa,” said Dr Robert Hopkins, chief of General Internal Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Chairman of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee.

If health care providers can encourage people to do both, “We’re going to potentially have a bigger impact on both disease prevention efforts,” Hopkins said.

Two-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine 94% effective, company says

Pfizer has suggested that a third dose of its vaccine would boost protection for those already vaccinated, and now Johnson & Johnson have announced that an additional dose of its vaccine would also help.

Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine received emergency use clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on February 27. It has been administered to approximately 14.8 million Americans, according to the CDC.

The company released some details of three studies looking at various aspects of its Janssen vaccine and said that, taken together, they showed the vaccine provided long-lasting protection that could be boosted with an additional injection.

“Our single-injection vaccine generates strong immune responses and long-lasting immune memory. And, when a Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine booster is given, the protective strength against COVID-19 increases further,” Dr. Mathai Mammen, global head of Janssen Research & Development, said in a statement.

The company’s ongoing Phase 2 trial on a two-dose schedule showed that two doses, 56 days apart, provided 100% protection against severe Covid-19 and 94% protection against severe Covid-19. Moderate to severe Covid-19 in the United States.

A second study showed that people who received a booster six months or more after their first dose had a 12-fold increase in antibodies – compared to a four-fold increase for people given a second dose at two months . So the protection should be stronger if people get boosters later, Dr Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess, told CNN.

Death rate four times higher in least immunized states

The average death rate from Covid-19 in the 10 least vaccinated states was more than four times higher over the past week than the rate in the 10 most vaccinated states, according to a CNN analysis.

In the least vaccinated states, about eight people in 100,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the past week, compared to just about two in 100,000 people in the 10 most vaccinated states.

CNN used data from Johns Hopkins University and CDC for the analysis.

Less vaccinated states also tend to have higher hospitalization rates.

Latest data from the US Department of Health and Human Services shows an average of 39 Covid-19 hospitalizations per 100,000 people in the 10 least-vaccinated states, nearly three times higher than the average rate of 14 per 100,000 people in the 10 most vaccinated states. .

States with the lowest immunization rates have fully immunized less than 45% of their residents. These are Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

The 10 states with the highest immunization rates fully immunized more than 62% of their residents. These are Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.