The newly approved COVID-19 vaccine, formulated to beat back the latest virus variants, is due to arrive within days, and those one in four adults who still swear by the jab can’t roll up their sleeves soon enough as Covid infections soar locally to levels not seen since the Summer 2022 surge.
In May, only 79 people, or an average of 2.5 people per day, reported testing positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Indian River County. In June that number increased to an average of 6.5 infections reported per day. Then in July, a whopping 23 people per day tested positive at a clinic or doctor’s office that reports positive tests.
The July tally of 724 cases does not include people who showed a positive at-home Covid test but did not seek treatment.
A total of 377 people countywide have reported testing positive this month through the 22nd – not as bad as July but still not great, considering that students and teachers are back in close quarters in school where respiratory infections can spread like wildfire.
Most households’ supply of the free Covid home test kits provided by the federal government through U.S. Postal Service delivery system has been exhausted. Those kits, procured during the national public health emergency, are no longer funded.
So unless people purchase tests for $20-$25 per two-test package, or get them covered by insurance, those with mild cases of Covid are likely not even testing unless they need a medical excuse for work or school absences, or become sick enough to seek medical care.
The iteration of the virus people are getting sick from today is quite different from the deadly Omicron variant circulating in the summer of 2022. This year’s virus, so far, seems quite easy to catch, but symptoms are on the mild side for most people.
The new Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are “monovalent” or targeted to one circulating strain of the virus (the K.2 subvariant) as opposed to the “bivalent” boosters administered in 2022 which attempted to protect against serious illness and death from two different variants or subvariants in one shot.
The FDA originally asked Pfizer and Moderna to target the J.N. 1 variant, then updated that ask in June to the K.P. 2 subvariant derived from J.N. 1. The virus mutates so quickly that the predominant strain in the U.S. now is reportedly the K.P. 3.1.1 subvariant.
According to an Aug. 22 statement, the FDA approved the new vaccine formulas without requiring the pharmaceutical manufacturers to conduct new clinical trials.
“For today’s approvals and authorizations of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, the FDA assessed manufacturing and nonclinical data to support the change to include the 2024-2025 formula in the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. The updated mRNA vaccines are manufactured using a similar process as previous formulas of these vaccines,” the FDA said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending the new shot for anyone age 6 months or older, but the Florida Surgeon General has recommended Covid vaccines only for older adults and those with serious underlying health issues which put them at risk of hospitalization and death from Covid illness – not for healthy children, or healthy younger adults.
As of now, the free Covid shots Americans grew accustomed to receiving since Winter 2020-21 are not funded after September, so for those who intend to take the updated 2024-25 shot, it might be smart to go sooner than to wait.
According to to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, generally Medicare does not fully cover over-the-counter test kits.
“If you have coverage through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, you will have access to COVID-19 over-the-counter and laboratory testing through September 30, 2024,” CMS said.
There is no combination Covid-Influenza shot available this season, as Moderna’s 2-in-1 shot just cleared its first large-scale clinical trial in late June. For people concerned about vaccine side effects, getting the Covid shot and flu shot on separate days could help isolate which shot caused any potential adverse reaction.