Bay Area public health officer urges quick COVID vaccination

Marin County s community medical officer is encouraging residents considering a COVID- vaccination to take action We recommend that anyone months or older who has not received their - COVID- vaccine get it now Santora commented Wednesday It s doable that by this fall there will be limited access to vaccines due to evolving policies at the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Affection Control and Prevention Santora s recommendation comes after Wellbeing and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr stated on May in a -second video clip on the social media site X that the CDC would no longer be recommending the COVID vaccine for healthy children or pregnant women A message like that creates confusion and undermines trust in vaccine safety and efficacy Santora disclosed Normally a committee within the CDC the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices ACIP makes recommendations to the CDC director about who should receive vaccines The director nearly unfailingly follows their guidance The CDC at present has no director Kennedy has sidestepped that the vitality officer noted As of Tuesday the CDC hadn t amended its online recommendation that healthy children months to years old be administered the vaccine The change however came Wednesday morning They just changed the CDC website Santora commented Wow that is in real time Now they say routine vaccines are only recommended for individuals years and older who are not moderately or severely immunocompromised Under the new guidance children months and older may receive COVID- vaccinations if parents decisions are informed by the clinical judgment of a medical care provider Regarding Kennedy s pronouncement that the vaccines would no longer be recommended for pregnant women Santora declared Again Kennedy is not following the standard process and procedures within the CDC In the CDC guidance pregnancy is identified as a pitfall factor So pregnancy would be considered a condition that would make someone eligible for COVID vaccine Dr Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos a prominent member of the ACIP resigned from the committee on Tuesday in protest Santora declared Panagiotakopoulos presented information showing that unvaccinated pregnant women who contract COVID- are more likely to require hospitalization and that their babies vitality suffers as well From birth to months infants are presumed to face a pitfall of hospitalization comparable to adults ages to There s a strong recommendation that pregnant women do get vaccinated because it provides protection to the infant Santora announced The constituents wellness officer mentioned the inhabitants s choice regarding vaccination may also be limited by the Food and Drug Administration The FDA authorizes updated versions of the vaccine developed to better match the latest COVID- variants Santora commented the Moderna vaccine developed for use this fall has been approved by the FDA only for individuals years and older Dr Martin Makary who heads the FDA appeared together with Kennedy in the May video clip Santora stated the changes in the CDC recommendation and the FDA authorization could affect the willingness of insurance companies to pay for the vaccines Kaiser Permanente did not promptly respond to a request for comment Santora mentioned low-income Marin residents must go to local pharmacies to receive their vaccinations following reductions in federal funding for purchase of the vaccine Related Articles RFK Jr says healthy pregnant women don t need Covid boosters Science says threat still meaningful Will a summer COVID surge hit California Will you be able to get a COVID- shot Here s what we know so far A new variant of COVID- may be driving up cases in particular parts of the world RFK Jr says Covid- shot will no longer be recommended for healthy children and pregnant women Schools do not require that children get vaccinated for COVID- Nevertheless Santora is concerned that Kennedy a vocal vaccine skeptic may push for reduced use of vaccinations for other diseases RFK and his colleagues have been very clear about believing that children are receiving more vaccines than they should be receiving Santora announced This may mark the beginning of major changes in federal policies that could affect access to childhood vaccines that have significantly reduced hospitalizations and mortality from vaccine preventable diseases Santora declared that testing of Marin County wastewater indicates that the presence of COVID- in the county is currently low During the week ending May there were two COVID- patients hospitalized in Marin County The last surge of COVID- cases in Marin came in August Presently about of the county s residents are up to date with their COVID- vaccinations It s been a delightful six months mentioned Dr John Swartzberg clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases and vaccinology at the University of California at Berkeley We can t be very sure about what this virus is going to do but there are very good infectious illness epidemiologists who argue that we will see a summer surge Disclosed Santora People forget until they get sick with it They underestimate their threat Based on previous patterns I expect to see an increase in infections Bay Area News Group contributed to this analysis