When should you plan to get COVID, influenza, or RSV vaccines? Get started now

How bad will this winter's respiratory virus season be? The CDC predicts that this winter's respiratory virus season will be similar to or worse than last year's, Cohen said. But that projection incorporates a lot of assumptions, she added.

COVID-19 Authorization

This season's Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are monovalent vaccines that target the KP.2 Omicron variant of the coronavirus, the FDA said, and have been updated to more specifically target the variants currently circulating.

Previously, the FDA had recommended in June that vaccine manufacturers make vaccines against the JN.1 strain, but as more information became available, the FDA told manufacturers that the KP.2 strain was their priority target. The KP.2 variant is a descendant of the JN.1 variant, also known as the FLiRT variant.

Asked about Novavax's COVID vaccine, which has not yet received renewed authorization, Peter Marks, MD, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said, “I can't talk about pending applications.”

People who got the vaccine last year do not need to get it this year. This is not an annual vaccine.

Maternal RSV vaccination is also recommended between the 32nd and 36th weeks of pregnancy to protect your baby.

Free at-home testing resumes

Dawn O'Connell, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the Department of Health and Human Services, said up to four free at-home COVID tests will be available to order online at Covidtests.gov starting in late September.

The test will be able to detect currently circulating COVID-19 strains, she said.

“Reducing risk and achieving more”

Jeff Nesbitt, deputy secretary of public affairs for the Department of Health and Human Services, said the new public health campaign is aimed at increasing vaccination rates.

The campaign, called “Less Risk, More”, touts the benefits of getting vaccinated, keeping people healthy and enabling them to work, socialise and interact with their families. The messages will be delivered across television, radio, print, social media and digital platforms.

Dealing with Resistance

As of May, only 22.5% of adults were up-to-date Latest COVID vaccine, According to the CDC.

“In general, people are more receptive to the flu shot. [than the COVID vaccine]” says Theresa L. Robbins, MD, a family physician in Columbus, Indiana, and board member of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Less severe infections are also a factor, she said: “I've heard a lot of people say, 'I got it this summer, and it wasn't that bad.'” She explains to them the reasons why they should get vaccinated, including to protect the elderly and others who are more vulnerable.

To motivate people to get the COVID vaccine, it's important to not only provide them with information but also to make them comfortable with the decision, said William Schaffner, M.D., a professor of preventive medicine and infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. Both the brain and the heart influence decisions, he said.

He says to those hesitant to get the shot: “The vaccine is incredibly safe and incredibly effective at preventing severe disease. It keeps you out of hospitalization. The vaccine doesn't prevent all mild infections, but if the vaccine keeps you out of hospitalization, as I often say, 'What's wrong with that?'”

But people don't make decisions based on information alone, he said. “It's about how you feel about something,” he said, and that requires the satisfaction of knowing you're contributing to not just your own health but the health of your community.

A positive mindset approach

When it comes to vaccine side effects, mindset matters, says Alia Krum, PhD, an associate professor of psychology at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.

She and her colleagues Found Having what she calls an ideal mindset is associated with a better immune response. The researchers analyzed 363 people, asking them how they felt about potential side effects of the vaccine and measuring their antibody responses.

“The ideal idea is that the vaccine is effective, our bodies respond to it, and, most importantly, any side effects associated with the vaccine are a sign that the vaccine is working and our bodies are responding well.”