[ad_1]
Covid-19 prices in the southwestern United States reached 12.5% (the highest in the country), according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released this week. Meanwhile, Los Angeles County recorded the highest COVID levels in wastewater since February.
Spikes come when California students return to classrooms thanks to the new, highly contagious “Stratus” variant. The policy change driven by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services, has been criticized by many public health experts.
SARS-COV-2, a Covid-19 virus, mutates frequently, and learns to better communicate human-to-human transmission and avoid immunity caused by vaccination and previous infections.
The Stratus variant, first detected in Asia in January, arrived in the US in March and was dominant tension by the end of June. According to the CDC, it accounts for two-thirds of virus mutants detected in US wastewaters.
The national coexistence rate reached 9% in early August, exceeding the surge after the January holiday, but last August spikes reached 18%. Weekly deaths, a metric lagging behind the positivity rate, have remained low up to now.
In May, RFK Jr. announced that the CDC had removed the Covid vaccine from its recommended vaccination schedule for healthy children and healthy pregnant women.
The secretary argued that the right move was to reverse the Biden administration’s policies in 2024. It allegedly “induces healthy children to get yet another COVID shot despite the lack of clinical data to support their children’s repetitive booster strategies.”
The statement promptly drove lawsuits from groups of major healthcare institutions, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians and the American Public Health Assn. – The “unfounded” decision allegedly violated federal law by failing to eradicate the policy on recommendations of the Scientific Commission, which considers US vaccination practices.
The Advisory Committee on Vaccination Practices routinely recommends updated Covid vaccinations along with the usual annual flu vaccination schedule. With the update of the Fall 2024 2025 season, we noted that the Covid Booster reduced the risk of hospitalization by 44% and the risk of death by 23% the previous year.
The panel argued that its benefits outweigh isolated cases of vaccine-related heart disease and allergic reactions.
The panel also acknowledged that the effectiveness of the booster decreases as new covid strains emerge, which have not been designed. Despite this, most Americans still felt they should get booster shots.
The CDC estimates that only about 23% of adults and 13% of children received the 2024-25 Covid booster. This compares with about half of adults and children who received an updated flu shot in the same time frame.
[ad_2]Source link
