Health officials expect the 2024-’25 respiratory virus season to be similar to the previous season and are encouraging more people to get vaccinated against flu, COVID and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
“We have the power to shape how this season is going to go,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Mandy K. Cohen, M.D., M.P.H., said at a National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) news conference Wednesday. “Because if last season is any prediction of this season, that means 800,000 hospitalizations of flu, COVID and RSV. … We know that these vaccines can cut the risk of hospitalization in half, so we can make sure we are protecting ourselves and our families from the worst of what these viruses can bring.”
The AAP and CDC recommend everyone 6 months and older get updated flu and COVID-19 vaccines. In addition, eligible infants, high-risk toddlers, pregnant people and older people should get immunized against RSV.
However, just 54% of children and adolescents and less than half of adults were vaccinated against flu last season. About 14% of children and adolescents and 23% of adults got an updated COVID-19 vaccine.
New NFID survey data indicate that among adults, 38% definitely will get a flu vaccine and 26% definitely will get an updated COVID vaccine this season.
Flu alone caused about 41 million illnesses, 490,000 hospitalizations and 25,000 deaths in the 2023-’24 season, according to CDC estimates. Pediatric flu deaths in the 2023-’24 season tied a record for a non-pandemic season with 199. Among children with known vaccination or medical status, 83% were not fully vaccinated and 49% had a pre-existing medical condition.
Flor M. Munoz, M.D., M.Sc., FAAP, an NFID director and member of the AAP Section on Infectious Diseases Executive Committee, stressed the importance of pregnant people getting vaccinated to protect their infants from flu, COVID and RSV. Infants are not eligible for flu and COVID vaccines until they are 6 months of age.
“The only way we can protect these babies in the first six months is through the maternal antibody that comes from maternal vaccine. … It’s a mother’s gift,” said Dr. Munoz, associate professor of pediatrics and infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
However, just 38% of pregnant people received a flu vaccine during the 2023-’24 season and 13% got an updated COVID vaccine, according to CDC data.
There were 1,470 COVID-19-related hospitalizations among children under 6 months reported to the CDC from October 2002 through April 2024, according to a new Morbidity and Mortality Report released Thursday. Only 18% of their mothers were vaccinated during pregnancy from the fall of 2022 to the fall of 2023 and less than 5% were vaccinated from the fall of 2023 through spring of 2024. About 22% of the hospitalized infants were admitted to an intensive care unit and nine died.
About 56% infants were protected from RSV via maternal vaccination or the monoclonal antibody nirsevimab (Beyfortus) last season, another new Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report showed. Both products launched last fall, and experts hope to see increased uptake now that some of the logistical hurdles have been cleared. The virus causes about 50,000 to 80,000 hospitalizations and 100 to 300 deaths per year in children under 5 years.
In general, the top reasons adults in the NFID survey gave for not getting vaccinated were concerns about side effects or lack of trust in vaccines.
Demetre C. Daskalakis, M.D., M.P.H., director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC, said the benefits of vaccination far outweigh the risks. Side effects tend to be minor and short-lived.
“What I can tell you is the vaccine has prevented thousands of deaths (and) hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations,” he said.
Reed V. Tuckson, M.D., co-founder of the Black Coalition Against COVID, lamented the misinformation that has flooded social media.
“We’ve got to make sure our people in this country understand that they can trust and rely on the integrity and the expertise” of the health care system, he said.
Dr. Cohen encouraged health care providers to make a strong recommendation for vaccination. The CDC has found that if doctors and nurse practitioners don’t bring up vaccination, patients tend to think they aren’t eligible or don’t need a vaccine.
“It’s so powerful for folks who are coming into the office to get that recommendation even if they’re coming in for a different reason,” she said. “ … It’s a team effort, and we need to think about all the ways we can help folks get vaccinated.”
Resources
- CDC interim clinical considerations for COVID-19 vaccines
- Information from the AAP on COVID-19 vaccine products, dosing, payment and policy
- Information from the CDC on RSV
- AAP RSV resources including nirsevimab ordering, dosing and payment
- AAP policy Recommendations for Prevention and Control of Influenza in Children, 2024-2025
- Information on flu from the CDC
