LONDON/CHICAGO – Low vaccination rates against the latest versions of COVID-19 and the flu are putting pressure on health systems this winter, top public health officials told Reuters.
In the United States, several European countries, and other parts of the world, there have been reports of an increasing number of hospitalizations related to respiratory infections in recent weeks. Death rates also increased among older adults in some regions, but well below the peak of the COVID pandemic.
The Spanish government has reintroduced mask-wearing requirements in healthcare facilities, as have some US hospital chains.
“Too many people need serious medical care for influenza, for COVID, when we can prevent it,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization’s interim director for epidemics and pandemics.
She cited “unbelievably low” flu and COVID vaccination rates in many countries this season as the world struggles to overcome the pandemic and its restrictions.
Since a global public health emergency was declared in May 2023, governments have struggled to communicate the risks still posed by COVID and the benefits of vaccination, infectious disease experts and health officials said.
Only 19.4% of US adults have received the COVID vaccine this season, based on the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Prevention Immunization Survey, despite recommendations that all adults receive an updated shot to protect against serious illness.
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This compares to about 17% of adults who received a bivalent booster in the 2022-2023 season, based on actual vaccine data reported by CDC states.
Nearly half of U.S. adults over 18 have received a flu shot this season (44.9%), about the same as last year (44%), according to the CDC.
“We don’t think enough people have gotten the updated COVID vaccine,” CDC Director Mandy Cohen said in an interview. “People still don’t understand that COVID is still a more serious disease than the flu.”
VACCINE FATIGUE Influenza accounted for 5.2% of U.S. emergency room visits, compared to 3% for COVID in the week ending Dec. 30. Still, COVID accounted for 10.5 per 100,000 hospitalizations at that time, compared to 6.1 per 100,000 for influenza.
Most of the updated shots used in the US and European Union are made by Pfizer with German partner BioNTech or Moderna
In Europe, the flu is spreading faster than COVID, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has said. Overall, 24% of a representative sample tested positive in the last week of 2023, up from 19% a fortnight earlier.
The rates are in line with previous flu seasons, ECDC respiratory virus expert Edoardo Colzani said. But “now we have COVID-19 as a new unwelcome guest,” he said.
ECDC did not have vaccination rates for influenza or COVID for the continent, but Colzani said initial data showed that uptake of the COVID vaccine was well below pandemic levels.
In Europe, the new COVID vaccinations are only recommended for high-risk groups such as the elderly and the immunocompromised. According to the WHO, there should be 100% coverage among these groups. COVID rates also increase in the southern hemisphere during the summer, the WHO said, because it is not yet a seasonal virus.
Last month, 850,000 new cases of COVID and 118,000 new hospitalizations were reported worldwide, an increase of 52% and 23%, respectively, from November, according to the WHO, which added that the actual numbers are likely to be higher.
Vaccines are still very effective at preventing serious illness, even if they don’t block infection, experts said.
A recent study in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases from the Karolinska Institutet and Danderyd Hospital in Sweden found that an updated vaccine that targets the XBB.1.5 variant of the coronavirus reduced the risk of hospitalization for COVID by 76.1% in people affected by the newer variants. on health records from adults over age 65.
This year’s flu shot, made by a number of manufacturers, is estimated to reduce the risk of hospitalization by 52%.
But “Covid vaccine fatigue” is hindering rollout, Colzani said. In Italy, for example, 8.6% of the eligible population received a third COVID booster after the initial vaccination series, health ministry data showed on Jan. 7.
Flu figures are not yet available, but a study by Federfarma, an association of Italian pharmacies, said 15% of Italians had been vaccinated against the flu this autumn, compared to just over 20% last season.
