Four years after the pandemic, people are feeling COVID fatigue and they’re not getting the vaccinations they need, says infectious disease expert Dr. William Schaffner. That can have deadly results, he tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue.
At the beginning of August, long before peak virus season begins, more than 700 people were dying each week from COVID in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control. And the CDC estimates that more than 25,000 people in the United States have died from the flu in the 2023-2024 season. Yet, says Schaffner, professor of preventative medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, “people were indifferent to taking the vaccines last fall.”
Only half of adults got a flu shot last year. The numbers are even lower for COVID: Less than a quarter of adults and 15% of kids were up-to-date on COVID shots as of May. “They’re both nasty viruses,” says Schaffner. “The viruses can put people in the emergency room within 48 hours. And it’s not all old, frail people — they can strike otherwise healthy people, including children.”
Schaffner says there’s no way to tell how bad this season will be, but “it’s easy to predict an increase,” he says. One thing is certain: “You should get vaccinated every year.” Here Dr. Schaffner answers our pressing questions about the upcoming virus season:
Why is there a “season” for viruses?
Despite the fact that we’re in the 21st century, science still hasn’t provided a clear explanation of why there are seasonal increases. In the temperate zones of the world, both the Northern and the Southern Hemispheres, we have a distinctive seasonal increase with influenza, the virus that’s best studied. In the tropics there is no striking seasonal increase. Influenza smolders there year-round.
COVID virus. Alissa Eckert, MS; Dan Higgins, MAMS
How can you tell if you have a cold, COVID or the flu?
All these viruses can produce a sore throat and stuffy nose. When things get into your chest and you have a cough and fever, that puts it into the flu and COVID category. If you lose your sense of taste and smell, it’s more likely to be COVID. People in high-risk groups ought to test both for flu and for COVID when they get symptoms because we have medications for both to prevent serious illnesses — Tamiflu for flu and Paxlovid for COVID. And the sooner they’re taken, the better.
How effective are the vaccines?
They do their best job preventing severe disease — helping people to avoid the emergency room, hospitalization, death. They are less effective at preventing milder infections. But the vaccine also helps prevent long COVID. If you needed another reason to be vaccinated, that’s an excellent reason.
Are there risks to getting the vaccines? There’s an old misconception that you can get flu from the flu vaccine, which is malarkey. But there’s nothing we take, including aspirin, that doesn’t have rare adverse events. With the COVID vaccine, there are rare adverse events, the most series of which is myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart tissue. It occurs most frequently in adolescents and young adults, males more than females. But generally people recover from it and there’s nothing left over afterwards. And COVID itself causes much more — and much more severe — myocarditis than does the vaccine.
When’s the best time to get vaccinated?
Ideally the end of September or during October. We know the protection from both vaccines wanes over a period of months, so that timing provides the best protection throughout the winter season when you need it.
Should kids get vaccinated? The CDC recommends everyone 6 months and older should be vaccinated for both COVID and flu. And you can get both at the same time. Go in and roll up both your sleeves!
By the Numbers
1.2 MILLION: Number of people who have died from COVID in the U.S.
20%: Percentage of Americans who say COVID is a major health threat today.
400,000: Number of people hospitalized with the flu in the 2023-2024 season.
