Updated vaccine guidance delayed by federal litigation
The United States is in the midst of a growing summer surge of COVID-19, with the virus spreading across the South and West and on the rise in the Northeast and Midwest, according to Dr. John Brooks, an infectious disease doctor at Emory University in Atlanta who formerly worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We’re now in the midst of a growing summer surge of COVID here in the United States,” Brooks said. “I think most of us kind of feel like it’s fading away and are certainly very grateful for that. But nationally we’re seeing it ticking up pretty much everywhere.”
The wave continues a pattern of gradually milder seasonal upsurges, with the virus still circulating at low levels and sending fewer people to hospitals than in prior peaks, Brooks said. He attributed the trend in part to growing population immunity from repeated infections and vaccinations.
“More and more people have had one or more infections that give them some immunity against the virus and have had more than one vaccination, or maybe both,” Brooks said. “And all of that really has begun to offer us a lot of protection.”
The virus nonetheless remains dangerous for vulnerable populations, according to Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. “COVID-19 is still dangerous, particularly for older adults, infants and people who are immunocompromised,” Rivers said.
Rivers noted that the immunocompromised often make up a meaningful portion of the general population. “In a typical office, if you have 20 colleagues, it’s likely that one or two of them have some degree of immunocompromise,” she said. “So it’s very common that people have risk factors that make COVID-19 dangerous.”
Rivers said she continues to mask in crowded settings such as airports and recommends that people stay current on vaccinations. The next round of COVID-19 vaccines is expected to be a close match for the dominant circulating strain and should become available soon.
Unlike influenza, which circulates primarily in winter, COVID-19 has shown peaks both in summer and winter — a seasonality that remains unexplained. “It’s a big mystery as far as I’m concerned. It is the only seasonal respiratory virus that has a summer season,” Rivers said.
The CDC has not issued updated vaccine recommendations because of litigation over the Trump administration’s effort to overhaul U.S. immunization policy. The administration no longer recommends that everyone aged 6 months and older routinely receive an annual COVID-19 shot, though major medical groups continue to recommend annual vaccination.
Insurers have indicated they will continue to cover the shots, which are expected to remain available at no cost through government programs such as the Vaccines for Children program.
Public-health experts told NPR that conflicting federal and medical-group messages could discourage vaccinations. “The message is that COVID vaccine and flu vaccine will be available, they’re covered by insurers, they’re recommended by medical societies. People should get them and get them for their kids,” said Clare Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers, which advocates for immunization programs.
A new drug, Xocava, can be taken after exposure to the virus to reduce the likelihood of falling ill, Brooks said. He described it as “something for people to just have in the back of their mind,” with particular use in hospitals and nursing homes following exposures of vulnerable people.