(NEW YORK) — Walgreens has launched a new delivery service for the COVID-19 oral antiviral therapy Paxlovid in partnership with DoorDash and Uber to get the treatment “directly to the doorsteps of those who need it.”
Walgreens on Thursday said it has more than 8,000 locations offering same-day delivery services, available to anyone who lives within 15 miles of participating stores. Walgreens said that means real access to a lot of Americans — offering it to roughly 92% of the population.
That’s the whole point of this initiative, Walgreens said — increasing access to COVID treatments — with “a focus on reaching those in socially vulnerable or medically underserved areas at a time when COVID-19 cases are beginning to rise again across the United States.”
Paxlovid, from Pfizer, is one of the few treatments still expected to hold up against currently circulating subvariants and comes as coronavirus hospitalizations are trending upward in the elderly.
The drug stops the virus from replicating in the body and works best when taken within five days of getting symptoms. It has proven highly effective at reducing the risk of hospitalization and preventing higher-risk patients from getting even sicker.
To use Walgreens’ new delivery service, eligible patients must have a Paxlovid prescription from a health care provider.
After the pharmacy has filled the prescription, and before it gets picked up, individuals can go online to select Same Day Delivery by visiting Walgreens.com/PrescriptionDelivery, using the Walgreens app or by calling their local store.
To use Same Day Rx Delivery, customers must be opted into Prescription Status Alerts, which will appear as an option if an order is before a particular store’s cutoff time on a given day. Walgreens noted that certain health plans do not cover or participate in Same Day Rx Delivery, and it advised customers to check with individual health plan providers for further details. They also noted that while most prescriptions are “expected to be delivered same day, some deliveries may not be eligible for delivery due to prescription type, delivery address, holidays, weather or other delivery constraints.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated health disparities and emphasized the need to address long-standing barriers, including access to treatments,” Anita Patel, PharmD, vice president of pharmacy services development at Walgreens, said in a statement. “Our pharmacy teams will continue to play a trusted and essential role in helping to keep people protected from COVID-19, including getting people vaccinated, tested and treated as safely, equitably and effectively as possible.”
(NEW YORK) — Doctors should ask patients with heart failure if they’re using any supplements, specific diets, or other types of complementary and alternative medicines to help manage potential benefits and risks, the American Heart Association said in a scientific statement published Thursday.
Research shows that about a third of people with heart failure use complementary and alternative medicines, a category that refers to non-traditional treatments used along with or instead of prescribed medications, to manage their conditions. However, most people don’t bring them up with their doctors, experts said.
“Many patients do not routinely report the use of alternative therapies to health care providers, and health care professionals do not routinely ask about or monitor dietary supplements,” Sheryl Chow, the chair of the AHA scientific statement writing committee and an associate professor at the Western University of Health Sciences in California, told ABC News.
That’s a concern because research shows that some alternative treatments can be risky for people with heart failure and may interact with prescribed medications. If providers don’t know what patients are using, they can’t address any potential risk or safety concerns, Chow said.
The AHA reviewed the published data from studies on the efficacy and safety of commonly used complementary and alternative medicines in patients with heart failure. Its scientific statement highlighted the ones that might be beneficial, might be harmful, and have mixed evidence. Fish oil has the strongest evidence of benefit and might help the heart pump better in people with heart failure, for example. Yoga and tai chi might help blood pressure, the study showed.
Other supplements can be riskier, according to researchers. For example, high doses of vitamin D could interact with some common heart failure medications like calcium channel blockers. Some research shows vitamin E is associated with an increased risk of hospitalization for heart failure.
Patients, though, tend to think that alternative medicine can’t be harmful, said Rich Krasuski, a cardiologist at the Duke University School of Medicine who’s done research surveying heart patients on alternative medicine.
“I think patients look at natural or naturally occurring substances as somehow being safer for them than taking a pharmacologic agent,” he told ABC News.
Providers who work with heart failure patients also may not realize that those patients are likely to use complementary or alternative therapies, Krasuski said. Doctors know that people with back pain or cancer tend to seek out alternatives, he says.
“In heart failure, we don’t often think about that,” he said.
Chow hopes the AHA statement helps close the awareness gaps around complementary and alternative medicine in heart failure patients, and gives both providers and patients an easy reference to turn to around the issue.
“Patients aren’t reporting when they use the therapies, but even if they are reporting it, what do providers do with that information?” Chow said. “In general, I feel like health care professionals don’t have great resources for their patients.”
That’s why Krasuski said he’s glad to see this type of statement from the AHA. Rather than dig through research to find information about a specific supplement a patient might be taking, he’ll be able to refer back to this document.
It’d also be a good starting point for the conversations about alternative medicine with patients, he said. The conversations aren’t necessarily to discourage or discount alternative treatments. As long as a supplement or food group isn’t affecting proven medications, Krasuski said he doesn’t have a problem with patient’s using them.
“It’s important to recognize that these are all approaches that patients take,” he said. “I think to improve their health, it’s important that we not only address traditional but also non-traditional types of therapy.”
(NEW YORK) — A respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, vaccine for older adults could be on the horizon after Pfizer announced Wednesday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would fast-track review of its experimental vaccine.
The federal health agency will make a decision by May 2023 and, if it decides to approve, it will be the first vaccine available in the country to protect against the virus that has swept the country.
“This is huge,” Dr. Gregory Poland, head of the Mayo Clinic’s vaccine research group, told ABC News. “This will be a turning point because of the burden of disease. No one needs to die or be hospitalized for this disease, again, if they take the vaccine and if they have a healthy enough immune system to respond.”
Here is everything we know about the vaccine and the review process:
How does RSV affect older adults?
Although RSV is known as a children’s disease, this is not the case, and the virus can affect adults too.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, older adults aged 65 and above are at high risk for severe infection, particularly those with chronic lung or heart conditions and weakened immune systems.
“Older adults are at greater risk than young adults for serious complications from RSV because our immune systems weaken when we are older,” the CDC website states.
Data from the agency shows senior citizens are being hospitalized with the virus at this point in the season at a rate much higher than seen in seasons past.
As of the week ending Nov. 26, the latest date for which data is available, adults aged 65 and older are being hospitalized at a weekly rate of 2.7 per 100,000.
Although the raw number might seem small, it is much higher than usually seen at this time of year. CDC data going back to the 2014-15 season shows the rate has never been higher than 1.0 per 100,000 in early November.
What’s more, an estimated 60,000 to 120,000 older adults are hospitalized every year and between 6,000 and 10,000 die.
Why has there not been a vaccine before?
This is not the first time researchers have attempted to develop an RSV vaccine.
In the late 1960s, a vaccine was produced in which the virus was inactivated with formalin, a chemical that kills viruses. The shot was given to children in Washington, D.C., but 80% of those immunized became sick and two children died.
Studies found that the vaccine did not generate enough antibodies to fight off the virus and instead triggered an overactive immune system response.
“That stymied vaccine development for 50, 60 years in this field,” Poland said.
How does the vaccine work?
In 2013, researchers at the National Institutes of Health studied a protein from the virus called the F protein, which attaches to human cells and infects people.
They found a way to freeze the protein in the form it takes before it’s ready to attach to cells, known as prefusion form.
The Pfizer vaccine contains this prefusion form of the protein. It also is bivalent, meaning it helps protect against both the A and B strains, which are the two most common strains of the virus.
How effective is the vaccine?
Pfizer ran a phase III clinical trial testing its vaccine in adults aged 60 and older against a placebo.
In late August, the company announced that its vaccine was 66.7% effective in preventing lower respiratory tract illness and 85.7% effective at preventing severe disease.
Additionally, Pfizer said there were no safety concerns and that the vaccine was “well tolerated” among participants.
“This is outstanding,” Poland said. “We have literally gone from a vaccine that harmed people inadvertently, a shutdown in RSV vaccine research to now a phase III large global trial that showed this vaccine has excellent efficacy and preventing lower respiratory tract disease.”
What is next?
Pfizer has submitted what is known as a Biologics License Application, which is tens of thousands of pages long.
The FDA will internally review and analyze the data and make a decision on whether the vaccine is potentially ready to be marketed, Poland explained.
If the FDA decides it is ready to be marketed, it will call a meeting of its independent advisory panel, the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee.
During this meeting, the company will present its data, the FDA will present its analysis, there will be public commentary and the committee will discuss several questions about the vaccine including whether this is the right age group and if the vaccine is safe and efficacious.
If the committee votes to recommend authorization, the FDA will either agree with the advisory panel and authorize the vaccine or not, which should occur by May 2023.
Following this, the final step will be a similar meeting among the CDC’s advisory committee and the CDC deciding to follow or go against the recommendation.
If the vaccine is approved, it will likely be available by fall 2023.
(NEW YORK) — Kirstie Alley’s unexpected death at age 71 has put a spotlight on colon cancer, the disease that took her life.
Alley had been recently diagnosed with colon cancer prior to her Dec. 5 death, a rep for the actress confirmed to ABC News.
“We are sad to inform you that our incredible, fierce and loving mother has passed away after a battle with cancer, only recently discovered,” Alley’s children True and Lillie Parker wrote in a statement shared to Alley’s Twitter account Monday night. “She was surrounded by her closest family and fought with great strength, leaving us with a certainty of her never-ending joy of living and whatever adventures lie ahead. As iconic as she was on screen, she was an even more amazing mother and grandmother.”
Colorectal cancer — the umbrella term for colon and rectal cancers — is the fourth most common cancer in men and women in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It affects men and women almost equally. The lifetime risk of developing colorectal cancer is 1 in 23 for men and 1 in 25 for women, according to the American Cancer Society.
At age 71, Alley was in the age demographic — ages 45 to 75 — when colon cancer is most likely to occur, CDC data shows.
It is not known exactly when Alley was diagnosed with colon cancer, or what stage she was in or what treatment she received. Her family said only that her cancer was “recently discovered.”
While colon cancer does have signs and symptoms, they often may not show until the disease is in its later stages, according to ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton.
“The key thing is that in early stages of colon cancer, there can be no symptoms or someone could be asymptomatic,” Ashton said Wednesday on “Good Morning America.” “When you get to more advanced stages, there can be signs and symptoms like abdominal pain, unexplained weight loss, blood in stool or anemia that is detected, but those are the signs typically when you’re talking about metastatic or later stages.”
Risk factors for colon cancer include everything from family history and certain genetic mutations to lifestyle factors like obesity, inactivity, smoking and alcohol to excess, and a diet low in fiber, fruits and vegetables, according to Ashton.
“It’s typically not one thing,” she said of the risk factors.
Colon cancer has been more in the spotlight in recent years with the death of Chadwick Boseman at age 43 and, more recently, with ’80s pop star Taylor Dane revealing she battled the same disease.
Earlier this year, a major study found that more young people are being diagnosed with late-stage colon cancer, prompting renewed calls among doctors for early detection and screening.
Researchers from University of Colorado School of Medicine found that young patients under 40 years old have had the highest increase in rates of new late-stage colon cancer cases diagnosed, meaning the cancer has already spread at the time of diagnosis. In particular, subgroups of non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic participants had the highest increases.
The United States Preventive Services Task Force, the leading organization on preventative medicine, recently changed the guidelines to start screening for colon cancer to age 45, down from 50, in light of the trends of increasing cases of colon cancer in younger people.
There are several different ways of screening for colon cancer, including visual exams and stool tests.
The most commonly known test, a colonoscopy, requires a doctor to use a flexible tube with a camera at the end to directly look at your colon and rectum. Flexible sigmoidoscopy can also be done where only the lower third of the colon and rectum is examined. During both tests, suspicious areas can be biopsied and removed if necessary.
A “virtual colonoscopy” uses a CT scan to take images of your colon and rectum. All these tests require a bowel prep to allow for good visualization.
Stool-based tests include three blood tests that look for hidden blood, antibodies or abnormal DNA in the stool, all indicative of cancer or polyp cells. If a test other than a colonoscopy is performed and turns up abnormal results, it should be followed up with a colonoscopy.
While a colonoscopy can be a daunting test for some due to the prep work involved — including drinking a prescription laxative drink — Ashton said there are steps people can take to make it easier.
“The first thing I tell my patients is you have anesthesia. You are asleep. You will feel no discomfort, no embarrassment,” said Ashton. “But the key thing for the prep … I say start two days before with a clear liquid diet.”
Some examples of liquids to consume include ginger ale, clear chicken broth, Jell-O and coconut water, according to Ashton.
“That will make the day before [the colonoscopy] much easier,” said Ashton. “And it will make the job of a gastroenterologist easier because they’ll be able to get a better visualization.”
Amrit K. Kamboj, MD, an internal medicine resident, and Vanya Jain, a medical student from New Jersey Medical School, who previously worked with the ABC News Medical Unit, contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — For a New Year’s resolution that lasts, start now, start simple and be specific.
Almost half of all Americans make a New Year’s resolution each year, research shows.
Most commonly, people aspire to lose weight, exercise more, quit smoking or eat healthier. Many will abandon their resolution by a month or less into the new year.
One barrier is that forming a habit takes time — about 66 days, on average, at least one study suggests.
“It takes about two to three months for someone to start feeling confident and comfortable with a new habit, but the repetition of the habit can start to become more of a routine after several days” Dr. Beth Frates, president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, told ABC News.
When deciding on a resolution, Frates recommends considering the six pillars of health: nutritious diet, physical activity, restorative sleep, elimination of substances (e.g. cigarettes), positive relationships and stress reduction.
“A potential first step is to compare your daily habits to the established national guidelines for these pillars,” said Frates. “A person can see where they are in relationship to the guidelines and rate how important each guideline is to their health and wellbeing.”
And studies show that simpler habits form faster than complicated ones.
Drinking a glass of water each morning will stick a lot more quickly than doing jumping jacks before work every day, for example.
“But at the same time, you don’t want to pick a behavioral goal that is too easy, since that is unlikely to be challenging enough to hold your attention,” said Dr. Jennifer Ashton, ABC News chief medical correspondent and author of The Self Care Solution, a book about creating self-care habits that stick.
Proper planning is also important.
“A reasonable goal for someone is a SMART goal,” said Frates, explaining that a “SMART” goal is one that is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.
A goal to “run 4 days a week for 30 minutes” is more specific than “I will run more.”
One way to measure success is by marking a calendar or an app with each run.
Achievability of a goal should be based on one’s current patterns. For those who currently don’t run at all, a goal to “run 2 days per week for 20 minutes” is a smarter initial choice for long-term success.
To keep a goal relevant, consider the “why” behind it, such as “running will make my heart stronger.”
A time-bound goal has a deadline for when to reassess success. After four weeks, for instance, a new SMART goal can be made based on the previous month’s progress.
“Setting a short-term goal that aligns with your long-term goals will help you to stay on track,” said Frates.
The good news: One missed day is OK. Research shows that missing one day does not reduce the chance of habit formation.
The key is to keep going.
“The process of getting through the lapse and successfully getting back on track usually happens within the first two months,” said Frates.
So starting now, experts say, is the choice that could boost that New Year’s resolution from a pattern to a habit by January’s end.
(NEW YORK) — Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States for both men and women, but women may not be receiving the same treatment, according to a new study.
Though guidelines for heart disease prevention are gender neutral, researchers report that, in practice, doctors advise less aggressive strategies for women.
Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital examined the advice doctors gave to patients at high risk for heart disease to help prevent their first cardiac event and found that women were advised more often to make lifestyle changes alone.
“Our study found that women are advised to lose weight, exercise and improve their diet to avoid cardiovascular disease, but men are prescribed lipid-lowering medication,” Dr. Prima Wulandari, a cardiology clinical researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, said in the study findings. “This is despite the fact that guideline recommendations to prevent heart disease are the same for men and women.”
The researchers examined the advice that nearly 3,000 high-risk men and women received for prevention of heart disease, based on participants in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Study from 2017 to 2020.
They found that though both men and women were eligible, men were 20% more likely to be prescribed statins. Women, on the other hand, were almost 40% more likely to receive recommendations for behavioral modifications, like losing weight, exercising more and stopping smoking.
The study was presented Dec. 3 at a medical conference in Singapore.
Close to 700,000 people die of heart disease in the U.S. every year making it the most common cause of death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Among women, heart disease causes 1 in 5 deaths, and around 1 in 16 women over 20 years of age have coronary heart disease, the most common type of heart disease, according to the CDC.
Coronary heart disease can present with chest pain, nausea, and breathlessness, among other symptoms. However, typical symptoms are mostly seen in men.
Women tend to experience less chest pain than men. Instead, they experience more pain in the middle or upper back, neck or jaw, more dizziness, extreme tiredness, pressure in chest and stomach pain — all symptoms that can easily lead to misdiagnosis.
Multiple studies have shown that in health care overall, inherent biases among doctors lead to women not being diagnosed or having a delay in diagnosis.
When it comes to why the prevention of heart disease in women is sub-optimal, according to the study, the reasons vary.
One reason, according to Wulandari, is that heart disease may still be seen as something that predominantly impacts men, despite the statistics showing women are also affected.
The rate of coronary heart disease is higher in men until 75 years of age, and women present with more atypical symptoms which could lead to misdiagnosis of their disease.
“A potential root of the discrepancy in advice is the misconception that women have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease than men,” said Wulandari. “Our findings highlight the need for greater awareness among health professionals to ensure that both women and men receive the most up-to-date information on how to maintain heart health.”
Another potential reason for the treatment bias is that there is an underrepresentation of women in research studies that can lead to practitioners being cautious of generalization of the heart disease management to both genders.
In addition, women themselves may underestimate their own risk of heart disease, and for other chronic health care conditions, it has been consistently shown that women prefer lifestyle intervention over medications.
According to ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton, in addition to a greater awareness among health care professionals, there are prevention strategies of which patients themselves should be aware.
Around 80% of heart disease can be prevented, Ashton said Tuesday on “Good Morning America,” citing American Heart Association data.
Some health changes that can help prevent heart disease include weight management, exercise, eating more fiber and less saturated fat, consuming less alcohol, monitoring blood glucose and not smoking cigarettes.
Ashton, a board-certified OB-GYN, said it is also important to take prescribed medications if indicated.
“If indicated, blood pressure medication, cholesterol-lowering medication for both men and women have been shown to save lives,” she said.
Dr. Sristi Sharma is a preventive medicine physician and is a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
(NEW YORK) — Some schools across the United States have been closing early in an attempt to stem influenza outbreaks.
In Maine, students at Casco Bay High School in Portland were dismissed early on Friday, Dec. 2, due to 32% of pupils and staff members out sick with the virus, according to a news release from the school.
Two other schools in the state, Harpswell Community School and Mt. Ararat Middle School, both of which are north of Portland, announced closures Tuesday, Dec. 6, “due to student illness” and will reopen Dec. 7 after the buildings are “deep cleaned.”
Additionally, in southeastern Kentucky, the Bell County School District, announced schools would be closed Monday, Dec. 5, and Tuesday, Dec. 6.
“This break will hopefully allow our students and staff to recover from all the sickness that has been going through our community,” Superintendent Tom Gambrel wrote in a letter to the community.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows nearly every U.S. state is reporting either “very high” or “high” levels of flu-like activity.
What’s more, the hospitalization rate, which sits at 16.6 per 100,000, is the highest it’s ever been at this point in the season since 2010-2011, or as far back as statistics are available.
An infectious diseases expert told ABC News that school closures are not sustainable in the long-term and schools should focus on other interventions to stem outbreaks.
“I think what we’ve learned from the pandemic is that school closures are really a last resort and should be avoided at all costs because of the impact it has on kids, the broad impact on kids and their parents,” Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor, said.
Studies, including one from the Netherlands, have suggested that remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic led to learning losses and increased learning disparities among students.
Brownstein said the primary focus should be on vaccination. As of Nov. 19, only 40% of children in the U.S. aged 6 months and older have received their flu shot, CDC data shows.
“Flu vaccination remains the cornerstone for reducing flu in the population,” he said. “The rollout has been slow this season despite potentially being the worst season of flu we’ve seen in a decade.”
Brownstein continued, “What I’m worried about is the upcoming holiday season, travel, mobility, mixing. It presents an opportunity for flu virus to spread so getting that flu shot is imperative.”
Additionally, he recommended schools stress that students and staff stay home when sick, make sure everyone is practicing hand hygiene – including washing hands with soap and water – and ensuring that classrooms are properly ventilated.
“These are all things we should focus way before we should ever consider closing schools,” Brownstein said. “Schools closures should be reserved for really challenging situations.”
(NEW YORK) — There’s been a substantial increase in firearm-related deaths in the United States over the past three decades and Black men are the most affected, according to new research from a team of emergency room doctors. They’re 23 times more likely to experience firearm-related homicide than white men, the study showed.
“Gun violence is an incredible scourge in our country. Gun violence affects everybody, and that’s an important thing to recognize. However, it affects certain groups far more than others. Black men speak to one of the greatest disparities, if not the greatest disparity,” co-author Eric Fleegler, associate professor of pediatrics and emergency physician at Harvard Medical School, said in a statement.
In a study published in the Journal of American Medical Association, Fleegler and colleagues analyzed disparities in firearm-related deaths between 1990 and 2021. They showed firearm-related homicides are greatest among Black men between 20 and 40 years of age. Firearm-related violence for Black men is at a 28-year high, the analysis found.
“There are these hotspots where firearm fatalities are happening more frequently, and interventions need to be catered to where those are happening. We’re seeing huge rates of firearm-related homicides among young Black and African American males — that’s the population where we may need to think about implementing violence prevention strategies,” said co-author Chris Rees, an assistant professor of Pediatrics and Emergency medicine at Emory University School of Medicine.
To reframe firearm violence as a public health crisis, the American Medical Association, one of the nation’s largest doctor associations, established the first taskforce on firearm violence prevention in November.
“We cannot continue to live this way…In movie theaters, houses of worship, hospitals, big cities and small towns, firearm violence has shattered any sense of security and taken lives. As physicians, we are committed to ending firearm violence by advocating for common-sense, evidence-based solutions, and this task force will be key to that ongoing effort,” Jack Resneck Jr. president of the American Medical Association, said in a statement at the launch of the taskforce.
Experts say there’s a range of factors contributing to the high rates of gun deaths among Black men.
“Weak gun laws cause more damage in places that have been subjected to systemic racial inequalities,” said Jeffrey Gardere, a clinical psychologist, and an associate professor at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Medical associations like the AMA have called for more gun laws over the years to combat firearm violence — but there was no governmental action until this past June, when Congress passed the first gun law in 30 years.
But gun laws alone will not solve the societal issues that contribute to firearm violence among Black males.
In places where unemployment rates are higher, where there isn’t equal access to safe housing, and where public infrastructure is neglected, people may be more exposed to dangerous behavior, Gardere said. Addressing those issues “would help Black and Brown people, especially males, be able to avert gun violence — whether as victims or as perpetrators,” he said.
Reframing firearm violence as a public health issue means affected communities need to be at the table as vocal members of any taskforce.
“The next step I’d like to see is addressing things at the community level and taking into account what communities think is feasible. I don’t think any community wants to see higher rates of firearm fatalities,” said Rees.
All hands are needed to solve this continually escalating problem.
“Unfortunately, in our country, the firearm epidemic is getting worse at an accelerating pace,” Fleegler said.
Faith Crittenden, MD MPH is a resident physician in pediatrics from Yale–New Haven Children’s Hospital and contributing correspondent of the ABC News Medical Unit.
(NEW YORK) — Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez says she knows firsthand the worry that comes with being a parent amid what some health experts are calling a “tripledemic,” with high rates of flu, respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, and COVID-19.
Bracho-Sanchez is a pediatrician at Columbia University in New York and the mother of a 14-month-old son who had to be taken to the hospital earlier this year to be treated for pneumonia after having a viral illness.
“It was really, really scary,” Bracho-Sanchez told ABC News’ Good Morning America of her son William’s illness, from which he eventually recovered. “So in addition to relating to my patients, of course, as their pediatrician, I am relating in this moment as a mom who has had her own child get sick and develop a complication from a viral illness this season.”
After a harsh fall season, flu and respiratory illnesses continue to show no signs of slowing down this winter.
Currently, 44 U.S. states as well as New York City, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico are reporting “very high” or “high” levels of influenza-like activity, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released last week.
Pediatric bed occupancy has steadily remained the highest it has been in the last two years; last month, the CDC issued an official health advisory in response to the rise in respiratory infections in children.
The ongoing higher rates of flu, RSV and COVID-19 come at a time when children tend to be indoors more often due to colder weather, and when families tend to be busy with school activities and holiday gatherings.
Bracho-Sanchez said her son attends daycare and they hope to gather with their family for Christmas, so she is taking extra precautions now to help prevent illness.
“As a mom right now, so much feels out of my control,” said Bracho-Sanchez. “But I am trying to prevent the things that I can prevent.”
Here are six steps Bracho-Sanchez said she is taking to help protect her son’s health amid the “tripledemic.”
1. Keeping up-to-date on vaccinations: Bracho-Sanchez said her son has been vaccinated against COVID-19 and influenza, which she recommends for all kids ages 6 months and older.
“I have peace of mind knowing that even if he is exposed to either one of those illnesses, he is much less likely to develop severe complications because I have vaccinated him,” she said. “I trust the vaccines. They are safe.”
Children ages 6 months and older are eligible to get a flu vaccine as well as a COVID-19 vaccine, with “rare exceptions,” according to the CDC. Both vaccinations are free and are widely available to doctors’ offices and local pharmacies.
Bracho-Sanchez said it is safe for children to get both their flu and COVID-19 vaccine shots at the same time.
She also said it’s important for adult caregivers and loved ones of children to also get vaccinated against both the flu and COVID-19.
2. Watching for symptoms: Bracho-Sanchez said it’s a reality that most children will develop at least one cold this season, and that most will recover at home and have no lingering complications.
There are times, as Bracho-Sanchez said she experienced, that a child needs additional medical help, so she said she continues to watch for those symptoms in her own son.
Those symptoms include dehydration, a fever that lasts for three days or longer, and a child who is worsening or experiencing respiratory distress, according to Bracho-Sanchez.
“A child who’s breathing fast or who looks like they’re having trouble breathing, like they’re having to work so hard to breathe, that is the sign to go seek help,” she said. “And any child who had been getting better at home and all of a sudden seems to worsen, the fevers had gone away and now they come back, or they had been perking up a little bit, and all of a sudden, they really seem like they’re not acting like themselves, that is a child that needs to be seen as soon as possible.”
3. Limiting indoor gatherings: Bracho-Sanchez said she is limiting the parties and indoor gatherings that she and her husband and son attend to only those that are “really meaningful.”
“We want to see family this holiday season. Our family is getting vaccinated, and we’re not going to cancel those gatherings,” she said. “But perhaps things that are less meaningful to us, we’re going to skip this season.”
She continued, “We’re still going to playgrounds. We’re still doing outdoor play dates when we can, when the weather allows it, because he’s still a child and it’s important for us to live our lives as best we can and prioritize the things that are meaningful to us.”
4. Wearing face masks: Bracho-Sanchez said she and her husband continue to wear face masks when in crowded, indoor spaces, even if they are no longer mandatory.
“It does no harm and it can actually bring you some protection,” she said of mask wearing in crowded spaces. “Kids over [age] 2 do really, really well with masks if you teach them and if you normalize it for them.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics says face masks should not be worn by children under age 2. It recommends face masks be worn by several groups of people, including those over age 2 who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 and by families with babies under 6 months of age who cannot be vaccinated.
5. Staying home when sick: Bracho-Sanchez said if her son is experiencing cold or flu-like symptoms like a fever or a runny nose or cough, she will keep him home from daycare to help prevent the spread of germs.
“I know so many of us have missed work, have had to cancel other activities when our kids get sick because so many colds are going around,” she said. “But as best we can, let’s keep them home if they are sick.”
6. Washing hands: Bracho-Sanchez said she encourages families, including her own, to continue the good hand-washing habits that so many people developed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Hand-washing can absolutely help us prevent COVID-19, influenza, RSV, and so many other things that are circulating right now,” she said. “So absolutely keep up the hand-washing, keep up the hand-sanitizing when you don’t have access to a sink and let’s keep teaching our children and getting them in that habit.”
Hans Gutknecht/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Health officials are making another urgent push to encourage flu and COVID vaccinations, as multiple respiratory viruses swirl around the country inundating both pediatric and adult hospitals. About 75% of pediatric hospital beds are filled and flu hospitalizations are at the highest level in a decade, for this time in the season.
“Levels of flu-like illness, which includes people going to the doctor with a fever, cough or sore throat are at either high or very high levels in 47 jurisdictions and that is up from 36 jurisdictions just last week,” said Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during a telebriefing today.
This week, the CDC is observing National Influenza Vaccination Week to encourage everyone over 6 months and older to get a flu shot. Experts say it’s not too late to get vaccinated.
“I want to emphasize that flu vaccines can be lifesaving and importantly, there is still time to get vaccinated to be protected against flu this season and its potentially serious consequences,” said Walensky.
This flu season has been one of the most significant in recent memory with nearly 9 million illnesses, 78,000 hospitalizations and 4,500 deaths from flu so far, according to CDC estimates.
This year’s flu vaccine, as well as the updated COVID booster, have been formulated to better protect against currently circulating strains. Experts say you can get both shots at the same time.
“You can get both [flu and COVID] vaccines at the same time. I know everyone’s tired of getting shots. We all have booster fatigue. But understand, you could get really, really sick this year and ruin your holiday celebrations if you don’t get vaccinated,” said Dr. Sandra Fryhofer, board chair of the American Medical Association during the CDC telebriefing.
Those who have received the updated COVID booster have a 15 times lower risk of death from the disease, according to CDC data. Those over the age of 5 are currently eligible for the shot, while Pfizer and BioNTech have just submitted an application to the FDA to authorize the shot as a booster in children 6 months through 4 years of age, according to a press release out today.
COVID hospitalizations are beginning to trend upwards again as well, with those over the age of 70 seeing a nearly 28% increase in the past week.
While there are vaccines available for flu and COVID, RSV is another threatening virus that has especially impacted pediatric hospitals – a virus with no vaccine currently authorized in the U.S.
If you do get diagnosed with flu and COVID, there are antivirals available that can reduce the impact of symptoms as well as the possibility of severe illness and death.
“There are specific antivirals for flu and specific antivirals for COVID. But flu antivirals don’t work for COVID and vice versa. And the only way to know for sure what you have is to get tested,” said Fryhofer.
Experts also reiterated the importance of staying home when sick in addition to getting your shots.
“Please stay home when you’re sick. Share your love by not sharing your sickness. This holiday season, please get vaccinated, it’s the best way to protect yourself, it’s the best way to protect your loved ones and it’s the best way to protect your community,” said Dr. Sandra Fryhofer.
