United States: In recent reports, it has been presented as a fact that the USA had a fairly high flare of COVID-19 in the summer, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is eyeing approval for strain-matched COVID-19 vaccines for this year as soon as this week, as CNN reported.
More about the news
Last year, the FDA authorized the 2023-24 Covid boosters on September 11, right on the precipice of the peak of SARS-CoV-2 transmission during the summer surge in that year, as wired.com reported.
In 2021, the first wave of the increase happened earlier, and according to some indicators, it occurred at a higher rate than in the previous years.
Wastewater surveillance studies
At the moment, wastewater surveillance studies reveal a “very high” viral load in 32 states and the District of Columbia.
Another 11 states are cited as having “high” levels. Analyzing the tendencies, the southern and western areas of the country have SARS-CoV-2 levels in the wastewater at the level of the 2022–23 and 2023–24 winter waves that peaked at the end of December.
Fortunately, because of high immunity from past infection and actual vaccination, these two severe indices, Emergency Department visits of patients with COVID and patients’ deaths, have not spiked similarly.
Moreover, the number of emergency department visits is no higher than during the summer wave last year. Mortality also remains low; again, this is only likely to be a preliminary figure for the latest weeks to be included in the count, as wired.com reported.
FDA approach for deploying booster shots
The FDA has solidly committed itself to the approach of deploying booster doses of specific Covid jabs with an eye on future winter surges, not summer surges.
The agency’s thinking has been for Americans to have their flu and COVID-19 vaccines together during this period of September to November so that when the mob of cold-weather respiratory illnesses descends, they are ready.
This fresh upsurge in vaccination can mute the levels of severe respiratory disease when healthcare systems are most vulnerable.