It’s that time of year again to prepare for several winter respiratory diseases that will be circulating in the next few months. The New Mexico Department of Health held a briefing Tuesday, about several new developments for vaccines in order to avoid the possibility a tripledemic.
Flu vaccines are now available and Dr. Megan Brett, UNMH Hospital Epidemiologist, says that folks should get vaccinated between September and October. Most pharmacies offer the flu vaccine along with most primary care and urgent care doctors.
“It’s also okay to administer the flu vaccine with most other vaccines that are available. So that would be for example COVID vaccines, the new RSV vaccine for older adults, and even things like pneumococcal vaccines as well” said Brett.
Brett continues that everyone 6 months older is recommended to get the vaccine even if people have severe egg allergies, which is a new development.
As for RSV, there are newly available vaccines for adults 60 years or older including those with chronic lung diseases and weakened immune systems. While the even newer vaccines for children that aim help protect and prevent severe illness in healthy children. The clinical trials for the children’s RSV vaccine show a decrease in medical visits, hospitalizations, and emergency room visits by almost 75%.
And those updated COVID vaccines should be delivered by the end of the weekand will help boost immunity and protect against the circulating variants.
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