New Covid-19 vaccine guidance explained
US health officials recently updated guidance on who should get the CO 19 vaccine as we enter the fall. Remember, this is when colds really spike. Cold and flu season really sets in because the air is getting colder as we approach the winter. This guidance was confusing. It caused a lot of questions and I’m here to clear it all up. First, where do we all agree? If you’re 65 years of age and older, the the new guidelines say you should get the CO 19 vaccine when it becomes available in the middle of September. And I agree with that because we know that medical risk increases as we get older. So if you’re 65 years of age and older, please do get the CO 19 vaccine. Here’s where we disagree. These guidelines say anybody between 6 months and 64 years of age should get the CO 19 vaccine only if you have an underlying medical condition. And that’s wrong. If you have a child between 6 months and 23 months of age, they need to get their first vaccine for COVID. They likely have not received a prior vaccine. And they need it because we know that this young, very young age group is at risk for ending up in the hospital with severe pneumonia. So 6 months to 23 months of age, even if they’re otherwise healthy, they need to get their CO 19 shot when it becomes available in the fall. What about other children? Those between 2 and 18 years of age. Well, if they have an underlying medical condition like asthma, they need to get their booster shot. They live in a long-term care facility or in a congregate living environment, they need to get the vaccine. And if they have a household member that might be medically higher risk, say that household member is older, they might have an underlying severe medical condition like cancer on chemotherapy, vaccinating your child will protect that older individual who might be high risk. So, it’s important to keep those in mind. What about individuals between 18 and 64 years of age? What should we do with that age group? It it doesn’t matter if you’re otherwise healthy. We know that this virus continues to be unpredictable. I’ve seen people come into the ICU who haven’t recently gotten a booster shot in the last few years end up with severe pneumonia due to CO 19. It’s still something that can cause sickness even in people that are otherwise healthy. So, I encourage everybody to still get their booster shot. If you’re wondering other benefits from this vaccine, we also know it’s protecting against the onset of longco. Long CO is a poorly understood illness. It affects really anybody. But we do see clear results that CO 19 vaccines protect against the incidence of longco and this is still a big problem across the country. So bottom line if you want to learn more go to healthychild.org. So if you’re a parent out there and you’re wondering should you get your child vaccinated against co 19 come the fall go to healthychild.org to get easily understandable information. It’s produced by the American Academy of Pediatrics. It’s trusted and it’s easy to navigate. If you’re an adult and you want more information, I recommend going to immunize.org. Again, it’s immunize.org for trusted, apolitical, evidence-based information to make sure that you and your families are healthy come the fall. Thank you.
The FDA has approved new COVID-19 booster shots for this fall, but with certain limitations. MSNBC medical contributor Dr. Vin Gupta breaks down what the approval means and offers guidance for those considering or in need of the vaccine.
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