Vaccination

Making An RSV Vaccine Was Hard. Getting People To Take It Is Even Harder

Carina Marquez, an associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, is a big believer in prevention. So she was delighted when, last year, health authorities in the US and Europe approved the first vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus. RSV vaccines hold the potential to reduce the thousands of hospitalizations and deaths associated with the virus in the US each year. But vaccines are only effective if they get in the arms of the people who most need them. "It's really important to make sure that people have equal access," Marquez says. "Inequities in access result in inequities in hospitalizations and deaths."

There are now three vaccines available in the US—GSK's Arexvy and Moderna's mRESVIA are approved for use in older adults, and Pfizer's Abrysvo for older adults and pregnant women—but already, disparities are emerging in their uptake. Hispanic and Black older adults lag behind their white peers, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Though the CDC recommends an RSV vaccine to everyone 75 or older, so far this year only 19 percent of Hispanic people in this age group have been vaccinated, compared to 35 percent of white, 31 percent of Asian, and 24 percent of Black seniors.

This worries Marquez, who witnessed how varied access and confidence in Covid-19 vaccines may have worsened health outcomes for Latino and Black Americans during the pandemic. While research about racial disparities in RSV infections is limited, one study suggests RSV affects Latino, Black, and Native Americans at earlier ages than white Americans. "The time to act is now," she says. "Especially in light of mistrust or hesitancy that's emerged after the Covid vaccine."

This October, Marquez is launching a five-year National Institutes of Health study to research how best to motivate one particular community—Latinos in San Francisco—to get vaccinated. Preliminary data she collected last year from 300 survey participants found many were interested in the RSV shot, but that there was also a "big call for more information."

Identifying and addressing specific concerns around the RSV vaccines will be integral. "As this is a new vaccine for our elders, we need to understand the most effective approaches to facilitate uptake," says Diane Havlir, chief of the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital's HIV and infectious diseases division, who is assisting with the study. "Vaccine uptake is most effective when it is tailored and provided in the context of cultural norms and beliefs."

Marquez's study will disseminate surveys asking participants questions not just about vaccine safety concerns but about specific demographic data, too. "The Latino community is quite heterogeneous, and to tailor interventions we need more disaggregated data," Marquez says. Characteristics such as language, how long someone has been in the US, whether they're insured, and how they get their health information could determine how they learn about the vaccine. "Thinking about social networks, especially those of older adults, is going to be key."

Marquez hypothesizes that older Latino adults may receive health information from family, friends, and community organizations more than social media campaigns, which can be a useful tool in targeting younger communities. The study seeks to find out whether a grandchild could encourage a grandparent to vaccinate, for instance, building on past evidence that knowing someone personally who received vaccinations is an effective motivator.

Updated Covid-19 Vaccine Released For The First Time This Year

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – It's the first time this year that updated COVID-19 vaccines have been released.

The Bay Area Neighborhood Council held the free vaccine event in Springfield Friday afternoon. Those interested were able to get an updated COVID-19 vaccine or flu shot and listen to a presentation by Dr. Wilmore Webley.

What is XEC, the new COVID-19 variant?

"For people who have underlying conditions, people who have heart disease, diabetes, people who are overweight or have any other underlying condition that reduces your immune response these are excellent vaccines to get," says Dr. Wilmore Webley.

Last year only 23% of Americans got an updated COVID-19 vaccine, according to the CDC. They recommend those six months and older get an updated flu and COVID-19 vaccine every year.

If you have had COVID-19 recently, you can wait two or three months to get the updated vaccine. Experts say the updated Pfizer and Moderna vaccines target a new strain of the coronavirus, KP.2. While the Novavax vaccine targets its parent strain, JN.1.

Big Y locations are offering the new COVID-19, updated booster, and flu vaccines. The vaccinations are available at no cost to all eligible age groups during its annual Big Vax Week, September 30th through October 6th. Those who receive the vaccine during this week will receive a $5 off $25 grocery coupon.

For a list of dates and times at a Big Y near you, visit BigY.Com.

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Pregnant? New CDC Report Underscores Why You Should Get The Covid Vaccine ASAP

If you've been pregnant since the pandemic, it's very likely your OB-GYN recommended being vaccinated for Covid-19. On September 26, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published new data reinforcing why. The CDC found that among infants 6 months and younger hospitalized for Covid, nearly 90% of their mothers were never vaccinated during pregnancy, leaving them more susceptible to severe infection.

Here's what we know: Just like the flu shot, babies can't receive their own Covid vaccine until they're 6 months old. In order to protect them from serious illnesses in their first months of life, OB-GYNs recommend that parents receive the vaccine during pregnancy. When expectant parents are vaccinated, antibodies against the disease pass through the placenta, transferring protection to the fetus that last through the first few months of life.

What's new in this report?

Between October 2022 and April 2024, 1,470 babies 6 months and younger were hospitalized with Covid-19. The authors of the study had detailed medical records for 1,148 of the infants. Those records revealed that 260 (roughly 22%) of them required intensive care, and nine died. Among the cases, researchers found that 1,065 of the infants' records included their mother's vaccination status from her pregnancy. About 88% of the hospitalized infants' mothers had no record of being vaccinated during pregnancy, and all those who passed away were "born to mothers with no record of vaccination during pregnancy."

Since Covid burst onto the scene, we've had a general understanding that the virus is harder on seniors and easier than you'd expect on children. But the CDC's report found that the number of babies 6 months and younger hospitalized for Covid was a bit higher than hospitalizations for adults age 65 to 74. The authors of the report say the data concluded that young infants are vulnerable to severe complications from Covid-19, and that there is "an urgent need" to get more expectant parents vaccinated during pregnancy.

In what trimester should you get your COVID vaccine?

First things first: COVID vaccines have been proven to be safe for mothers and babies during pregnancy, and proven effective at reducing the risk of infection and severe illness. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends getting the vaccine at any time during pregnancy, but the sooner the better — this ensures you have a healthy pregnancy, and that baby is born with some protection from the vaccine too. It also seems that vaccines are becoming more effective at protecting mothers and newborns. The study notes that "the percentage of hospitalized infants whose mothers had been vaccinated during pregnancy was 18% from October 2022 to September 2023, and decreased to less than 5% during October 2023 to April 2024."

Unlike some vaccines, there is no certain time or trimester when you have to receive the Covid shot. "The best time to get it is when it's offered," says Dr. Todd Wolynn, M.D., MMM, co-founder of Kids Plus Pediatrics and executive director of the Trusted Messenger Program for Public Good Projects, a public health education nonprofit. Because Covid doesn't have a season and is just part of our world now, there's no time like the present to protect yourself from it, he says.

It's worth noting that of the infants in the study who spent time in the ICU, roughly 25% also tested positive for RSV, another vaccine-preventable respiratory illness. The CDC recommends that pregnant people receive a single dose of the maternal RSV vaccine between 32 and 36 weeks of pregnancy to protect newborns through their first RSV season.

Vaccine hesitancy is still a thing.

A 2023 survey found that only about a quarter of pregnant people say yes to being vaccinated against COVID. Of course, all pregnant people want what's best for their baby, and Wolynn says there is a ton of medical disinformation circulated online to cast doubt on the vaccine's safety. He says there's also another force at work in those OB-GYN exam rooms called inaction bias.

"There are various biases we have as just human beings and one of them is called an inaction bias, which is, 'I would never want to do something that could create harm. And if I don't do anything, I don't have to worry about the harm it might cause,'" he says. While declining the vaccine can feel like sidestepping harm in the moment, Wolynn cautions parents to remember that Covid is still "very much out there," with a track record of causing serious illness in infants. Even those who don't die or require hospital care can be left with "acute or long-term complications," he says — meaning long Covid.

Long Covid is still poorly understood, particularly in young children who can't describe things like fatigue or brain fog very well. Most studies estimate that between 10% and 20% of kids who catch Covid will suffer long-term symptoms that greatly impact their life, including generalized pain, shortness of breath, and heart palpitations, according to an explainer by Elisabeth Adkins Marnik, PhD.

Of course, Wolynn says, there is no way to detect if a baby is suffering in these ways. What we do know is that the only way to prevent long Covid is to prevent infection. One study found that even in children who did catch the virus, vaccines were 41% effective at reducing the diagnosis of long Covid. This CDC report is yet another in the growing stack of data showing how beneficial is it to be vaccinated for Covid in pregnancy.

If you're pregnant and worried about making the best choice for you and your baby, Wolynn says to shut out all the noise online or from your social circles. Read recommendations made by trusted medical authorities on the topic at hand — in this case, the CDC and ACOG.

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