Your questions answered about staying safe from COVID, RSV and flu this winter

John Yang:

It's almost become a holiday tradition. Temperatures go down, decorations go up and so to COVID cases. We'll look at the current state of affairs, not just with COVID but also with RSV and seasonal flu. We turn again to Katelyn Jetelina, publisher of the popular newsletter, Your Local Epidemiologist.

Katelyn, what is the situation right now with these three respiratory conditions or diseases? And how does it compare to previous years?

Katelyn Jetelina, Author, "Your Local Epidemiologist": Yeah, that's a good question. So unfortunately, we are in the smack middle of respiratory season. And that means that RSV, flu and COVID-19 are exponentially increasing, really across the nation right now.

We hope that RSP may be peaking soon in the south. But I would not be surprised if a lot of your family and friends are feeling a lot of different symptoms right now.

John Yang:

The last time we talked, it was just before the federal health emergency ended, and the government was getting out of the business of buying the vaccines and distributing them. Has there been any change or any effect of that change?

Katelyn Jetelina:

There's actually then a very dramatic effect, particularly around vaccine disparity, it's like you said the funding is gone, which means campaigns education, pop up, clinics, partnerships, incentives, those are all gone as well.

And there's additional layer of barriers to access due to cost or just availability. For example, some local health clinics, the vaccine costs more than they can afford or willing to risk financially. So for example, the gap between Latinax and white residents is more than twice what it was last year in COVID-19 vaccination coverage, same with African American black residents, same with residents of low income.

So unfortunately, we are seeing that the marketplace in our regular health care system, regular public health system, not during an emergency is really not fairly distributed to those who need it the most.

John Yang:

family, friends and co-workers, this is the time of year there are a lot of office parties, a lot of people are traveling, they'll be gathering with their families for holiday celebrations. What advice do you have for these people that they don't take away from these celebrations, a case of COVID or RSV or the flu?

Katelyn Jetelina:

Yeah, I think the most important thing, at least what I'm laser focused on is I don't want to miss that party. I do not want you to have disruptions because I'm sick. And so what I'm doing is I'm wearing a mask in very crowded areas like traveling, for example. And then of course, keeping up to date with those vaccines.

Even though we are in the middle of respiratory season, it's still not too late to get your COVID-19 vaccine, your flu vaccine or even your RSV vaccine if you're over 60. So there's a lot of measures we can put in place to maximize our fun for these holidays, and ensure that we minimize our sickness.

John Yang:

We asked viewers what was on their mind what they wanted to know about. And it's a lot about what we're talking about here can't in North Carolina asked does the booster shot cover all variants?

Katelyn Jetelina:

Yeah, so the importance of this fall vaccine is that it is updated with XBB, which is the newest variant that has been circulating around this fall. There are other variants coming down the pipeline just because that's what viruses do. And we're paying attention to them. But the latest data from the lab shows that, you know, this updated vaccine is still a great match, particularly against severe disease and that.

John Yang:

A lot of interest about long COVID. Prakash asked what are the latest statistics on long COVID?

Katelyn Jetelina:

Yeah, long COVID is certainly a thing. There are millions of people suffering right now. And we are working very hard in public health to try to figure out the patterns and the treatments for it. Thankfully, though, that the risk of long COVID is declining over time, thanks to immunity, thanks to vaccines and thanks to also the virus just changing. Omicron for example is less prevalent with long COVID than delta was a few years ago.

So it is still a risk. And it is I think here to stay as long as the virus is here to stay and we need to figure out solutions for it.

John Yang:

You also got a question about the RSV vaccine and its availability. Silvia in Pennsylvania asked when will the RSV vaccine be available for those under the age of 65 and for those who are young with chronic lung disease?

Katelyn Jetelina:

That's a really great question. So right now the RSV vaccine is available for those over 60 as well as pregnant people. We also have a monoclonal antibody, which is basically a shot of antibodies for very young kids.

The rest are being tested in clinical trials. I hope that RSV vaccine it comes later down the pipeline. But at least right now we know that the highest of highest of risk for RSV are somewhat protected through these prevention strategies.

John Yang:

We're talking earlier about the price now that the government has gotten out of the business of buying and distributing the COVID vaccine. Lesley in Maine asks, if there's a program for free or reduced cost vaccine shots for someone who is unemployed?

Katelyn Jetelina:

So there is a unique and very new program by the federal government. It's called the Bridge Program. And it's just for COVID-19 vaccines, but it provides free shots this fall to under an uninsured people. And there's three places you can really kind of find these free shots is one health care providers, two, local health centers, and three, and probably most popular is pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens.

But the really the best place to look where you can find this bridge program is at vaccines.gov because partners participating in this program are obligated to add vaccine availability there so go to vaccines.gov to find that bridge program availability.

John Yang:

Katelyn Jetelina of the newsletter, Your Local Epidemiologist, thank you very much.

Katelyn Jetelina:

Thanks for having me, John.

John Yang:

You can read more about how uninsured adults can get COVID vaccines at our website kpbs.org/newshour.