United States: New data also shows that millions of citizens are tired of constant calls to get vaccinated; thus, health officials are less likely to get immunized against the flu or COVID-19.
Specifically, by Nov. 9, about a third of the adults in the U.S. reported getting immunized for influenza (34.7%), and less than a fifth reported getting the latest booster shot for Covid (17.9%).
Many Still Open to Vaccination
The data could still be a bit early, however: In the CDC report, 41% of adults said that they would still consider taking both inoculations or they “definitely or probably” would, as reported by HealthDay.
The third vaccine that is still available is the RSV vaccine, targeting the elderly, as the CDC pointed out.
RSV Vaccine Uptake Among Elderly
Close to forty percent of respondents aged 75 and above reported that they had ever received an RSV vaccine as of Nov. 9.
There are some suggestions that increasing education may help boost RSV protection, according to the authors of the report.
“Data from another CDC survey showed that a large proportion of adults open to RSV vaccination expressed concerns about lack of knowledge about RSV and the RSV vaccine and lack of a provider recommendation for vaccination,” they noted.
A second report created by CDC researchers indicates increases in vaccination for such rates, yet remains dangerously low within a highly susceptible population: the elderly in nursing homes.
Alarming Trends in Nursing Homes
As per the report, the cumulative coverage for COVID vaccine this season among nursing home residents as of November 10 was 30%. Average immunization rates were slightly lower, pegged at 58.4% for the flu vaccine.
The report also revealed that less than 18 percent of people in the country’s nursing homes have been administered an RSV shot.
Second, the percentage of recipients of COVID-19 and RSV vaccines was lower in southern states, as noted by the report.
Tackling Misinformation and Hesitancy
The researchers argue that even though there has been improvement, there is still too much “misinformation and doubt” keeping people who should be getting vaccinated from doing so out of safety concerns.
Even though the majority of the nursing home patients remain apprehensive upon being told that they need to take their flu, COVID, and RSV vaccines, there is a lot that the staff members and the family can do to convince them why it is in their best interest to go through the exercise, as reported by HealthDay.
“More needs to be done at every level to protect nursing home residents, who constitute one of the population groups at highest risk for severe respiratory disease,” the CDC authors said.
