It’s vaccine time for RSV, COVID and flu, too
The respiratory virus season is starting, so this is a good time to talk about three major vaccines to protect ourselves from the potential for serious illness.
First, you’ve probably heard of RSV – respiratory syncytial virus. We’ve known about RSV for a long time. The virus can be serious for the very young and for older adults. There hasn’t been much we could do about it, until now. For the first time, we have a vaccine. Side note: Work on the vaccine was done at the University of Rochester Medical Center. I have watched my colleagues develop this vaccine over the past few decades. So this is local and this is good news.
The vaccine has gone through many clinical trials in adults. It was found to prevent infection altogether, or prevent severe illness, hospitalization or death.
Right now, the vaccine is for people 60 and older, but recommendations are likely to change. I had my shot a few weeks ago. Other than a sore arm, I had no side effects.
Second, there’s a new COVID booster that will be available very soon. It’s one shot, and it is formulated to protect against the new variants we’ve been seeing. Remember, COVID changes its genetic makeup, so we need to keep up with vaccines that match the current strain of virus.
This is the same type of vaccine, meaning it’s the mRNA vaccine. It just covers different variants of the COVID virus. I know there's a lot of discussion back and forth about maybe people under age 60 or do not need it. But I think that it makes sense to try and stop the virus spreading using this vaccine. It's very effective against severe illness, preventing respiratory infection, preventing death. So I recommend it for all.
Finally, there’s flu, which changes each year and so we need the current vaccine that protects against the strains we are likely to see. The vaccine protects against two strains of influenza type A and two strains of type B.
Getting three vaccines seems like a lot. Here’s what to know about timing:
The recommendation right now is to get the RSV vaccine separate from the other two.
COVID vaccine and the flu shot can be given together. You’ll get one in one arm the other shot in the other arm.
For people on PrEP, PEP or those managing their HIV status, whether and when to get the vaccines are more about age. The RSV vaccine is for people 60 and older. The COVID vaccine and the flu shot are for everybody. For people any underlying health condition, such as asthma, high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer or HIV, these vaccines give you additional protection against illness than can have severe consequences. We can prevent that.
Check the Trillium website for availability of each vaccine. Getting these vaccines is a good way to protect ourselves during this respiratory season. It makes good sense. So here’s to our good health.