Tomorrow is the first official day of fall, which means flu season is just around the corner. And this year, healthcare workers are preparing for a worse than normal season.
“There is no such thing as a good flu season — it’s kind of just bad or worse,” Dr. Bradley Jacoby, chief of pediatrics for the Kaiser Permanente Riverside service area, said. “And this year is forecast to be a bad flu season like last year.”
But it’s not just the flu that has Jacoby worried. It’s the combined impact of influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and Covid-19 this winter — the “tripledemic” as some have called it.
“In terms of RSV, we’ll have to see what happens with that,” Jacoby said. “And we know that there was a recent uptick in Covid, and again there probably will be a winter surge of Covid as well.”
The good news, he said, is that the current strain of Covid going around is much less concerning than previous versions of the virus, though he cautioned there is still a risk of severe illness and hospitalization for those who are immunocompromised or in other high-risk groups.
“It’s a very different virus than it was two or three years ago, when the pandemic started,” he said.
In the first outlook for the season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it anticipates the total number of hospitalizations this year as a result of flu, Covid-19 and RSV to be similar to last year, noting that flu activity in the U.S. is currently low.
Jacoby said flu season in Riverside County typically peaks between January and March, which is why getting vaccinated now is so important.
“Unfortunately, once you have the flu, the flu vaccine isn’t going to do any good,” he said. “You really need to have that on board before you get exposed to the virus, and that’s why right now, when we’re not really seeing a lot of flu in the community yet, is the time [to get vaccinated].”
This flu season, Jacoby said there are three vaccines available: a standard-dose shot, recommended for people 6 months of age and older; a nasal mist, available for those between the ages 2-49; and a high-dose shot, which is recommended for people ages 65 and older.
“The CDC recommends for all patients 65 and above to preferentially get that high dose product,” he said. “Now, if for some reason … wherever you happen to get your flu vaccine does not have the high-dose [shot], it’s still acceptable to get the regular dose. Getting some protection is better than none.”
In addition to getting their annual flu vaccine, Jacoby said everyone who can should be getting the updated Covid-19 booster.
“The CDC recently came out with recommendations — we were kind of expecting them to more gear the boosters towards high risk groups — they actually are recommending for everybody to get it,” he said. “The indication is for all people that need it that haven’t had a [recent] booster to go ahead and get that.”
And this year, for the first time, there are three different shots aimed at preventing severe illness from RSV in vulnerable populations — one for babies under 8 months (or up to 19 months for those at high risk of severe infection), one for adults over the age of 60 and one for people who are between 32 and 36 weeks pregnant that provides protection to newborn babies through passive immunity.
“That’s extremely exciting, because RSV is one of those viruses that unfortunately makes people — pediatric patients, the elderly — very sick every year,” Jacoby said. “So it’s very exciting that we have a product for that now.”
For those experiencing vaccine fatigue or who are hesitant about getting vaccinated, Jacoby said that all of the vaccines have gone through a rigorous testing process that includes continual monitoring of documented adverse reactions.
“There’s very good safety procedures out there to make sure that these vaccines are safe,” he said. “And I can say, without hesitation, the vaccines are all safe and effective.”
Flu vaccines, the updated Covid booster and new RSV shots are expected to be widely available in the next couple of weeks, giving people plenty of time to get vaccinated before flu season starts in earnest.
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