U.S. Prepares for Fall COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign Amid New Surge Concerns

Health officials plan a fall vaccination campaign as COVID-19 cases rise in parts of the U.S. An advisory panel recommended new shots for Americans, but only a fraction of the population plans to get them. The CDC highlighted the waning immunity and emergence of new variants as ongoing concerns.

With fresh COVID-19 cases bubbling up in some parts of the country, health officials are setting course for a fall vaccination campaign.

On Thursday, an influential government advisory panel recommended new shots for all Americans, pending the endorsement of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's director.

While the need for vaccinations isn't as pressing as in previous years, the threat remains. Officials noted that most Americans have some degree of immunity from past infections or vaccinations, and recent data shows COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations at their lowest since 2020. However, immunity wanes over time, and new variants continue to surface, leading to hundreds of COVID-19-associated deaths and thousands of hospitalizations each week.

This month, health officials reported increases in emergency room visits and hospitalizations, particularly in the southwestern U.S., raising concerns about a potential summer wave.

At a Thursday meeting in Atlanta, CDC infectious disease experts voted to recommend updated COVID-19 vaccines for Americans aged 6 months and older. Health officials are advocating for annual COVID-19 vaccine updates, similar to yearly flu shots. The FDA had initially advised vaccine manufacturers to target the JN.1 virus variant, later suggesting a switch to the KP.2 subtype if feasible.

Despite the new recommendations, many Americans are not following the CDC's advice. Recent surveys show that less than one-quarter of U.S. adults and only 14% of children are up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations. The CDC's survey data revealed that while 23% of respondents plan to get an updated shot this fall, 33% definitively will not.

The CDC's Bridge Access Program, which provided free shots for uninsured adults, will end in August due to discontinued funding, having supplied nearly 1.5 million doses since last September.

Since early 2020, approximately 1.2 million U.S. COVID-associated deaths have been reported, with the highest toll during the winter of 2020-2021. CDC officials emphasized that about 1 in 100 Americans aged 75 and older were hospitalized with COVID-19 in the past four years.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)