Over the past respective months, UW Medicine has administered implicit 20,000 bivalent boosters. Bivalent boosters are an updated COVID-19 vaccination including strains of some the archetypal microorganism and the omicron variant to amended support against infection.
Over the past respective years, UW Medicine clinics, hospitals, and spouse sites person provided implicit 650,000 individuals crossed Washington authorities with COVID-19 vaccinations.
“I conscionable truly americium grateful for each the unit and each the teams astatine UW Medicine who’ve created these vaccine clinics,” Cynthia Dold, interim president of UW Medicine Hospitals & Clinics, said. “They’ve had specified a immense interaction connected truthful galore lives.”
In summation to providing vaccinations, UW Medicine has besides been progressive successful galore different aspects of the pandemic response, from treating patients successful UW hospitals to helping develop alternate COVID vaccines and running trials for boosters.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends everyone aged 6 months and older to stay up to day connected their COVID-19 vaccines, though whether oregon not a idiosyncratic is “up to date” depends connected hazard factors, age, benignant of vaccine, and caller COVID infections. In general, for those 5 years and older, a bivalent booster is recommended 2 months aft their past vaccine, booster dose, oregon COVID infection. Exact recommendations tin beryllium recovered connected the CDC’s website.
According to the Washington State Department of Health, arsenic of Nov. 12, an estimated 20% of eligible Washingtonians aged 5 and older person received a bivalent booster dose, compared to the 70.0% who completed their superior series. These numbers are somewhat higher successful King county, wherein 23.7% of those eligible person received a bivalent booster and 83.1% completed their superior series.
Compared to nationalist information provided by the CDC, Washington has a higher booster vaccination percent than the nationalist average. 10.1% of eligible Americans nationally person received a bivalent booster, and 68.6% person completed their superior series. Despite this, wellness attraction facilities successful Washington are inactive precise busy.
“[UW Medicine’s] hospitals stay beauteous full,” Dold said. “[The] unit is moving really, truly hard.”
She predicts that it volition beryllium a pugnacious autumn and wintertime play for unit dealing with flu, respiratory syncytial virus, oregon RSV, and COVID-19 infections.
RSV specifically has deed young radical hard this season, particularly erstwhile combined with different infections similar COVID-19, resulting successful overwhelmed exigency and pediatric units successful hospitals already suffering from staffing crises crossed the country. Dold asks that radical “stay masked erstwhile appropriate, and marque definite [they] get [their] vaccines,” to support themselves and trim accent connected our wellness attraction system.
Appointments for vaccinations tin beryllium made astatine the UW Medicine website.
Reach contributing writer Chaitna Deshmukh astatine news@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @Chaitna_d
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