sPharmacists are warning This is more than ever dangerous shapes of SARS-CoV-2 continues to emerge and threatens to drive potential increases in the coming months. On October 4, White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci He said As we approach the winter months, “we should expect that we might very well get another variant that would escape the immune response we got from infection and/or vaccination.”
Bio . Research Center exploratory study Published October 5th polled nearly 11,000 American adults from September 13-18 and found that 69% of Americans believed that the new variables would not have a significant impact on the ability of the United States to contain the disease. Only 29% said the new alternative would be a major setback for the United States
At this point in the pandemic, Americans are also not concerned about the individual risks that COVID-19 poses to them. Only 30% of people overall said they were very or somewhat concerned about hospitalization from COVID-19. However, people of color were more likely to worry: 47% of black Americans and 49% of Hispanics said they were very or somewhat concerned about hospital admissions related to COVID-19, compared to 22% of white Americans. And while not vaccinating significantly increases the risk of serious illness from the disease, only 20% of unvaccinated people were concerned about hospitalization, compared to 33% of vaccinated people.
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Respondents were somewhat more likely to worry about accidentally transmitting the virus to another person; About 49% said they were somewhat anxious or very worried. Again, vaccinated people were more likely to worry about transmitting the infection to another person, with 55% saying they were worried at least to some extent, compared to 29% of unvaccinated people.
The vast majority of Americans still haven’t received the new omicron booster although an updated vaccine likely provides best protection against the currently circulating BA.4 and BA.5 sub variants. The Pew survey found that only about 4% of Americans received an updated payment, and 44% said they plan to get one. Among those vaccinated with the initial series, 68% said they would probably get an updated booster or had already received it, but 32% said they might not get the booster. Meanwhile, 21% of respondents overall said they had not been vaccinated.
If more Americans fail to get the boost, the nation may miss an opportunity to save thousands of lives. According to October 5 Research By the Commonwealth Fund, if 80% of eligible people in the United States were to receive the boost, about 90,000 deaths could be prevented, as well as about 937,000 hospitalizations. A successful promotion campaign will also generate significant cost savings: An estimated $56.27 billion in medical spending could be avoided, including $13.47 billion in Medicare spending.
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