With Covid-19 transmission rising in the US, recent changes to federal vaccine guidance have led many Americans to be confused about the latest policies and are concerned about access to the shot this fall.
The US has been causing a summer surge every year due to Covid-19 incidents since the pandemic began. However, this year, experts say the seasonal waves start later than expected and are relatively restrained. Surveillance data from Wastewaterscan shows median Covid-19 concentrations were chopped in June and July and were etched at high levels in parts of the country, but overall, last year was far below this period.
“My hypothesis was that a weak winter wave would set the stage for a bigger summer because many people don’t have the immunity these days. So far, activity has been sedating more than I had expected,” epidemiologist Caitlyn Rivers wrote in her newsletter. “I remain open to what August will bring. My best guess is a continuous increase until early September, but I am uncertain.”
It’s too early to know how much the current rise will be, or how long it will be, but Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist and director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University School of Public Health, says her key concern is whether the COVID-19 vaccine “will have time to protect people, especially high-risk people.”
“My biggest worry at this point is the uncertainty about when the updated Covid vaccines will be available and who will get them,” Nuzzo said.
New research data from KFF, released Friday, shows that most adults in the US are not planning on getting the Covid-19 vaccine this fall, but most of those planning to get the shot share concerns that the vaccine is not available and insurance won’t cover the costs.
Over the past few months, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Director Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that Covid-19 shots are no longer recommended for healthy children or pregnant women, and that on behalf of the Federal Vaccine Advisory Board, plans to look into established federal childhood vaccine schedules.
In the latest survey, KFF voted for a nationally representative sample of nearly 1,300 adults between July 8th and 14th, at least two weeks after each of these events.
About a quarter of US adults say Kennedy has made a “big” change in US vaccine policy, but another 40% “do not have enough knowledge to say it,” a KFF poll found.
This fall, most likely seniors and Democrats, about two-thirds of those planning to get the Covid-19 vaccine this fall say they are worried that they may not be available. And more than 60% of insureds who plan to get a shot are worried that their insurance won’t cover it.
According to new KFF data, it is unclear whether about half of parents are currently recommending that the federal health agency receive the Covid-19 vaccine this fall.
Kennedy announced that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would not officially recommend a COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children, leaving the decision to take place between parents and their health care providers.
KFF has found that individual physicians or healthcare providers continue to be the most reliable source of information about vaccines.
Trust in the local health department and CDC has been eroded over the past two years, but most adults still say they trust these sources for vaccine information.
But far fewer people say Kennedy trusts at least “a significant amount” of money to provide information about the vaccine, according to KFF. When asked about the impact of changes to federal vaccine policies, more than a third of adults said they weren’t making people safe. Only one in five people said the change was making people safer.
Rivers says it encourages anyone hoping for the annual Covid-19 to get it sooner than later.
“The big drawback is that it hasn’t been updated yet. The new formulation will be released near the fall,” she said, but once you get the shot now you’ll be protected from unpredictable summer waves and stay ahead of any potential access concerns that may occur in the future.
