The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped by Dallas on Friday to encourage North Texas residents to get vaccinated ahead of the inevitable rise in coronavirus and influenza cases.
Dr. Mandy Cohen, who took over the federal agency in July, visited the Dallas County Department of Health and Human Services as part of her tour of vaccine clinics in Texas and across the country. Vaccines are available to combat the three major respiratory diseases common during cold and flu season: influenza, COVID-19, and RSV, but vaccine rollout has been slow.
One in five adults say they have received the latest COVID-19 vaccine since it became available in September, according to a recent report from KFF. , the numbers seem to vary depending on party affiliation. About 76% of Republicans said they would not or definitely would not get a coronavirus vaccine, compared to 26% of Democrats and 59% of independents. The reworked jab targets his XBB.1.5, a subvariant of Omicron that was prevalent this summer.
As of Sept. 12, only 3.7% of Texans were up to date on their coronavirus vaccines. This was just before the latest round of coronavirus vaccinations began.
As of Nov. 4, just under 35% of adults had received this season's flu shot, according to CDC data.
Both COVID-19 and influenza rates remain relatively low in Washington, Florida. However, the spread of the virus increases during the holidays as families and friends gather for celebrations. Cohen warned that anyone, regardless of age or pre-existing health conditions, can experience long-term illness from a seemingly simple coronavirus infection.
“There are people who have mild COVID-19 who have lingering symptoms, what we call long-term coronavirus,” Cohen said. “And no one wants to get sick, especially not for long.”
Long-term COVID-19 infections are somewhat of a mystery because it's difficult for doctors to predict who will develop symptoms that can cause chronic pain, fatigue, shortness of breath, and brain fog. The percentage of non-hospitalized adults who experience long-term COVID-19 infection is estimated to be between 7.5% and 41%, according to the CDC.
COVID-19 has taken a backseat as North Texas grapples with a surge in RSV cases that has filled most of the beds at children's hospitals. This annual virus causes cold-like symptoms in children and adults with healthy immune systems, but can be fatal to young children and the elderly.
Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth sounded the alarm last week after some patients in its intensive care unit had to be admitted to the emergency department while waiting for beds to become available. A children's health care facility near Dallas reported 382 RSV cases in the week starting Oct. 29, the highest number of cases the hospital system has seen all year.
“We expect this problem to get worse, not better, as the winter progresses,” said Dr. Amy Richardson, assistant medical director at Cook Children's Emergency Center.
Earlier this year, federal regulators approved new RSV prevention measures, including a vaccine for adults 60 and older and pregnant women. Treatments are lacking, but infants can also receive an injection of a monoclonal antibody called nirsevimab.
“The manufacturers did not anticipate this demand. We have been working hard with the manufacturers to provide more doses,” Cohen said at the Dallas County Health and Human Services Department. He spoke on the occasion.
The CDC announced Thursday it would release an additional 77,000 doses of vaccine. Dr. Philip Huang, Dallas County's top health official, said officials have secured RSV vaccine doses for adults but are still waiting on monoclonal antibody doses for infants.
Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins and Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett greeted Mr. Cohen during his visit to Dallas, which included a tour of the DCHHS vaccine clinic and a stop at a church vaccination drive. Ta. Cohen also entered the hospital room of Debra Clark, 67, of Dallas, when she received her COVID-19 vaccination.
Mr. Cohen made similar stops in Houston and San Antonio on Thursday.
During Friday's event, Lewis Jenkins revealed that his 91-year-old mother, Joanne Jenkins, recently contracted COVID-19.
“But Mom was getting that vaccine. It's a new vaccine that's compatible with the coronavirus that's out there,” Lewis-Jenkins said. “So even at 91 and three-quarters of a year old, he wasn't in such bad shape.”
Crockett took time during the event to promote Dallas' new health care hub, the Advanced Research Projects Agency, announced last month. The headquarters, one of three across the country, will focus on diversifying and expanding clinical trials.
“One of the things we've realized in trying to save lives is that so many minorities don't actually want to get vaccinated. They're like, 'That's not for us.' “,” Crockett said. “But we want to make sure that when you go through these exams, you can say that the data shows whether you're Black, whether you're Latino, whether you're Asian. . We want people to know that it's all-inclusive, and we're going to make that happen.”
More than a quarter of Black adults say they have received the latest COVID-19 vaccination, compared to 20% of Hispanic adults and 19% of white adults, according to KFF data. There is.
