As the United States heads into its third winter of the pandemic, federal health officials said Tuesday that Covid-19 vaccinations may become annual shots, in a move making clear that the coronavirus is not going away.
The Biden administration has been hinting at a shift in strategy since the spring as the government continues to de-escalate its pandemic response. Dr. Ashish Jha, who is leading the White House Covid-19 Response Team, said the newly updated Covid-19 boosters, which were authorized last week, would be free of charge to all who qualify for and want them. Future vaccines and treatments may not be, she added. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also expects this fall to be the start of annual Covid-19 shots, but said those who have weakened immune systems might need more frequent protection.
Meanwhile, Australia saw its worst flu season in five years, leading other countries to fear the colder months drawing in. According to government surveillance reports, the peak in Australia was about three times higher -- and came about two months earlier -- than the average winter. Other southern hemisphere countries, such as New Zealand, posted similar data. The US could also see an alarming combination of flu and Covid making a comeback, Fauci told Bloomberg News. If that happens, it would be the first winter in which the US has had to contend with those two respiratory viruses circulating together at high levels, something infectious disease experts have cautioned about since the beginning of the pandemic.
This comes as more products to tackle Covid-19 come onto the global market. China became the first country to approve an inhaled Covid-19 vaccine this week. The needle-free product, known as Convidecia Air, delivers a vaccine dose through an inhaled puff of air from a nebulizer. The need for innovative ways to deliver protection from the virus is strongly felt in China as it continues to pursue its uncompromising zero-Covid policy.
A low vaccination rate among the country's elderly is one medical reason used by Chinese authorities to justify the ongoing disease control measures. More than 70 Chinese cities have been placed under full or partial lockdown since late August, impacting more than 300 million people. And there are few signs that things will ease soon. Chinese President Xi Jinping, an unflinching advocate of the strategy, is poised to be anointed as the country's leader for another five years at the 20th Party Congress in mid-October.
More data are emerging on the effects of the pandemic and its restrictions, such as lockdowns. Math and reading scores for 9-year-olds in the US fell between 2020 and 2022 by a level not seen in decades, according to a report by the National Center for Education Statistics. US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona told CNN Thursday that the drop in marks was connected to the lack of in-person classroom education during the pandemic, adding that the US is in an educational crisis.
In other news
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Moderna and Pfizer's updated Covid-19 vaccine booster shots, which combine the companies' original vaccines with ones that targets Omicron sublineages, were authorized by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week. White House officials acknowledge that the lack of new funding from Congress means that securing the updated bivalent vaccines for the fall booster rollout will come at the expense of new tests and personal protective equipment that will also likely be needed later this year.
There has been growing division among some public health leaders about the US's pivot away from enforcing new Covid mitigation measures. This includes many public schools planning to keep masks optional this fall, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention no longer recommends staying at least 6 feet away from other people to reduce the risk of exposure.
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