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Lockdowns have helped keep last year’s flu season historically moderate, both in the United States and around the world, but U.S. officials said nearly half of adults and unmasked people and nearly half of all adults this fall, according to a new survey. and winter worries about a more serious season. They say they are less likely to get the flu shot.
In a news briefing to publish survey data On Thursday morning, senior health experts said they were particularly concerned about one in four people at higher risk for flu-related complications, who said they did not intend to get the flu vaccine, even though the coronavirus was still circulating around the country.
Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky noted that experts do not yet know how severe the flu will hit the United States this fall, but that other respiratory infections are back, including. RSV, It is a common cause of pneumonia and bronchitis in infants and a serious threat to older adults. NS CDC’s latest weekly flu report It shows that only one state, Wyoming, has reached a “moderate” level of flu cases.
Noting that because flu was almost non-existent last year, people don’t have the protective immunity they can have when they get sick, Dr. Walensky wanted everyone aged 6 months and older to be vaccinated. “The Covid-19 pandemic is not over and both flu risks and Covid-19 circulation may place additional burden on hospitals and frontline healthcare professionals.”
Commissioned by the survey National Infectious Diseases Foundation, a non-profit organisation. Medical director Dr. Vulnerability to flu in general could be higher this year, with “laxed Covid-19 mitigation strategies, increased travel and school reopening,” said William Schaffner.
For the survey, more than 1,110 respondents aged 18 and over from all 50 states and the District of Columbia answered questions exploring attitudes towards the flu in mid-August; Covid19; pneumococcal diseasewhich can cause pneumonia, sepsis and meningitis; and vaccine intentions.
The answers revealed a tension between beliefs about the value of the flu vaccine and the intention to get vaccinated: 61 percent of respondents agreed that the vaccine was the best protection against the flu, but 44 percent said they were unsure whether to get the vaccine. or did not intend to do so.
But the coronavirus pandemic has had a positive impact. Behaviors that can help reduce the impact of the flu. About half of those surveyed said they were more likely to stay home from work or school if they were sick due to the pandemic, and 54 percent said they would wear a mask at least sometimes during flu season.
But there were racial differences: 73 percent of black respondents and 62 percent of Latinos said they would wear masks during flu season, compared with only 46 percent of white respondents. Black and Hispanic participants were more likely to be concerned about simultaneous transmission of Covid and flu, compared to white participants.
Dr. Walensky said the national flu vaccination rate remained steady at around 52 percent a year ago, but criticized what he called the “inequality gap” in flu vaccination: 56 percent for Whites and 43 percent among Black people.
Patsy Stinchfield, a nurse practitioner Child MinnesotaIt’s safe for people to receive flu and Covid vaccines (including boosters) at the same time, the president-elect of a pediatric healthcare system and infectious diseases foundation.
Dr. Walensky also raised alarms about flu vaccination rates among young children falling from 64 percent the previous year to 59 percent. In the 2019-2020 seasonHe said 199 children died from the flu, and about 80 percent of them were unvaccinated.
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