The low vaccination rates against the latest variants of Covid-19 and influenza put pressure on health systems this winter, top public health officials warned Reuters.

In the United States, several European countries, as well as other parts of the world, there have been reports in recent weeks of increasing hospitalizations linked to respiratory infections. Death rates have also increased among older adults in some regions, but are well below what they were at the height of the Covid pandemic.

Spain’s government has reinstated the mask requirement in healthcare facilities, as have some hospital chains in the United States.
“Too many people need serious medical care for flu, for Covid, even though we can prevent it,” said Maria Van Kerkove, interim director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness at the World Health Organization.

She cited “incredibly low” vaccination rates against flu and Covid in many countries at this time, as the world tries to leave the pandemic and its restrictions behind.

Governments are struggling to communicate the continuing risks of Covid and the benefits of vaccination after the World Health Organization declared in May 2023 that Covid-19 was no longer a public health emergency, experts say infectious diseases and health officials.

Only 19.4% of American adults have currently had the Covid vaccine, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), despite the recommendation that all adults get the updated vaccine that prevents serious illness .

“We don’t think enough people have gotten the updated Covid vaccine,” CDC Director Maddy Cohen said in an interview. “People still don’t understand that Covid is still a more serious illness than the flu.”

Influenza accounted for 5.2% of emergency department visits in the US, compared with 3% for Covid in the week ending December 30. However, Covid accounted for 10.5 per 100,000 hospitalizations during this period, compared to 6.1 per 100,000 hospitalizations for the flu.

Most of the updated vaccines used in the US and the European Union are made by Pfizer with its partner, Germany’s BioNTech, or by Moderna.

In Europe, flu is circulating at higher rates than Covid, announced the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). A total of 24% of a representative sample tested positive in the last week of 2023, up from 19% a fortnight earlier.
The rates are similar to previous seasonal flu seasons, says ECDC respiratory virus expert Edoardo Colzani. But “now we have Covid-19 as a new, unwelcome guest,” he adds.

The ECDC does not have vaccination rates for the European continent for both influenza and Covid, but Colzani said previous data showed that levels of vaccination against Covid are well below what is needed in a pandemic. In Europe, the new Covid vaccines are only recommended for high-risk groups, such as the elderly and immunosuppressed people. Among these groups, the WHO says vaccination coverage should be 100%.

Rates of Covid also increase in the southern hemisphere during the summer, the WHO said, because it is not yet a seasonal virus.
Last month there were 850,000 new cases of Covid and 118,000 new hospitalizations reported internationally – an increase from November of 52% and 23% respectively, according to the WHO, which added that the actual numbers are likely to be higher.

Vaccines are still very effective at preventing severe disease, even if they don’t prevent infection, experts say.
A recent study in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases from the Karolinska Institutet and Dederund Hospital in Sweden showed that the updated vaccine, which targets the XBB.1.5 variant of the coronavirus, reduces the risk of hospitalization for Covid by 76.1% in infected persons from the most recent variations, based on public health registries for adults over 65 years of age.

This year’s flu shots, which are produced by several pharmaceutical companies, are estimated to reduce the risk of hospitalization by 52%. But ‘Covid vaccination fatigue’ is an obstacle to the vaccination campaign, said Colzani.

In Italy, for example, 8.6% of the population required to be vaccinated has had the third booster dose against Covid after the initial series of vaccinations, health ministry data showed on January 7.

Flu figures are not yet available, but a study by Federfarma, the association of Italian pharmacies, says 15% of Italians were vaccinated against the flu last fall, compared to just over 20% during the previous seasonal flu season. .