COVID-19 vax rates concern health officials heading into winter

“The big problem is that there are no reliable treatments that have much impact on Long COVID.”
—Dr. James Shepherd, Sharon infectious disease specialist

SALISBURY — Kitty Kiefer couldn’t catch a break last winter. But what the Salisbury selectman did catch was COVID-19, influenza, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and a nasty cold.

“The whole winter I went from one disease to the next,” recalled Kiefer, despite being current on her immunizations. Small children, she noted, “are walking Petri dishes.”

While she failed to dodge a mélange of misery, she is optimistic that her updated flu and COVID shots, and one-time RSV jab, might have lessened the severity of her illnesses. So Kiefer plans to roll up her sleeve again this fall for her annual flu shot and COVID booster.

Health officials are hoping more people will follow suit, as staying up to date with recommended vaccines reduces the risk of severe disease, hospitalization and death, and even a syndrome known as Long COVID.

With a summer surge of coronavirus in the rearview mirror, at least temporarily, and the official arrival this month of the 2024/2025 respiratory virus season, state and local health officials expressed concern about lagging immunization rates and COVID fatigue heading into fall, winter and the holidays.

“We want to make everybody aware that the Respiratory Viral Disease Season is definitely upon us and this is the time to get yourself protected from COVID, flu and RSV,” said Dr. Manisha Juthani, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Health (DPH).

She noted that everyone ages six months and older is eligible to receive the COVID and flu vaccines.

“I encourage everyone to receive both updated shots this season,” including people who were infected with coronavirus this past summer. For those individuals, she recommended holding off on boosters until the end of October or early November.

The immunizations can all be administered at the same time. The RSV vaccine, however, is a one-time shot, she noted.

“For all older adults 75 and older it is now recommended that they get the RSV shot. If you are 60 and older, there are a set of comorbidities that will make you eligible for this vaccine,” said Juthani.

‘A bit of COVID fatigue’

October marked the start of the typical flu and RSV seasons, although the coronavirus remains a year-round threat.

“Unfortunately for COVID, as much as I have willed and wished for it to become a seasonal virus, it really has not completely done that. But what we can do is still protect ourselves to the best of our ability going through the rest of this respiratory viral disease season,” Juthani noted.

Health officials said they are concerned that while people tend to not hesitate when rolling up their sleeves for the seasonal flu vaccine, they nix COVID boosters.

Juthani said it could be due to “a bit of COVID fatigue.”

“People are used to getting their flu shot. They may feel they’ve had a lot of COVID shots over the last couple of years.” Others, said Juthani, report that they feel sick after receiving the booster.

In that scenario, she recommends that people try a different vaccine, as there are three on the market: Moderna, Pfizer and Novavax.

“It is most important to get some sort of protection going into this season so don’t let side effects get in your way. Just try something,” advised the health commission. “At the end of the day we want you to boost your immunity so you will have the best chance of success.”

Some people believe that the flu vaccine causes the flu, which is a common misconception, according to Tamar Melin a nurse practitioner with Nuvance Primary Care. She advises everyone to get vaccinated for flu this season.

“It is a protection and decreases the severity of symptoms if ill with flu. The flu shot does not cause flu.”

COVID boosters lag behind flu shots

As of mid-October, about 156,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered, compared to 289,000 doses of the updated influenza shot, according to DPH.

“We’d like to try to get those numbers as close to each other as possible,” said Juthani. “COVID is a much more morbid and has a much higher mortality than flu does, but more people in our state are getting the flu vaccine.”

She also noted that fewer people are testing for COVID or seeking treatment for infections, a concerning trend that became evident last year.

During the 2023/2024 season, 70% of people who were hospitalized for COVID were age 65 and older, DPH statistics show.

“We know that one in 100 people age 75 and older ended up hospitalized for COVID, and 88% of hospitalized adults had not received the most updated COVID vaccine,” the state health commissioner explained.

She said statistics reveal that half of the people age 65 and older who became ill with the coronavirus did not seek medical treatment, which might have lessened their symptoms.

“It is our oldest age groups that are impacted the most, but everybody from 40 upward is where we see the burden of our disease,” said Juthani. “Age is the biggest risk factor.”

In terms of deaths, the highest number are in the 80-plus range, but also includes those in the 60-69 and 70-79 age groups, she noted. “There were many people who died this summer, and also since August, including one death in a Connecticut nursing home.

Recent spikes in COVID-19 cases have been largely driven by a new class of subvariants nicknamed FLiRT, which according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention accounts for more than 80% of cases.

“For sure, the general interest in the new COVID variant booster shot is pretty low,” confirmed Dr. James Shepherd of Sharon, an infectious disease specialist at Yale School of Medicine.

What may people don’t realize is that even a mild or asymptomatic infection can lead to long-term health issues, known as Long COVID, which the epidemiologist described as a mixture of different syndromes with various and common symptoms of fatigue, inflammation, brain fog, dizziness, palpitations and other symptoms.

“An episode of COVID seems to trigger many of these, but other infections could probably trigger episodes too and Long COVID does not seem to require a severe infection to trigger the syndrome,” said Shepherd.

“The big problem is that there are no reliable treatments that have much impact on Long COVID. The only thing that helps in most people is time. As weeks and months go by they begin to feel better.”