There’s so much bad news out there but when something good comes along, many people refuse to recognize it. The FDA’s approval of bivalent vaccines in August of 2022 from both Moderna and Pfizer meant the vast majority of us had access to solid protection against Covid that now also covered the newer and extremely infectious Omicron strains.
You would think that, after everything we’ve all been through, people would have flocked to receive one of the millions of doses of the latest booster that have been prepared. Unfortunately, as of this writing, the response has been underwhelming nationwide.
And so, people have continued to get sick unnecessarily. Thanks to earlier vaccines, the large majority of these cases were fairly mild but odds are you or people close to you were forced to go back into quarantine with cases that might have been fairly unpleasant. The virus remains significantly more dangerous than the flu and hundreds in the United States die from it every day. Every person who gets sick adds to the risk for the most vulnerable people.
There is some good news, even if you haven’t gotten the latest booster. The latest reports now indicate that these last boosters not only continue to reduce the risk of getting ill from omicron subvariants but also a newer group of subvariants that are better at getting around antibodies. The XBB Covid variants now constitute about a quarter of all cases. Overall, if you get your vaccine right now, your odds of getting sick from Covid will likely drop by close to 50 percent. It’s also fair to assume that, if you do get sick, the odds are that your case will be all the milder and shorter-lived. There’s no reason to wait.
Catch Up On Your Health Now!
Here at House Call Doctor Los Angeles, busy residents of the LA area have a place to find the kind of help they expect from doctors on call who are ready to come to their homes, workspaces, or hotels to fit the patient’s schedule. Noted board-certified internist Dr. Michael Farzam is ready to provide care for any non-immediately life-threatening chronic or acute health issue, including helping patients keep up to date on all of their vaccines. Dr. Farzam notes that, while Covid vaccines may be getting all of the attention right now, it’s important for people of all ages to stay up to date on their vaccinations. These include everything from yearly flu shots to protection against less well-known but often very painful and dangerous illnesses, from tetanus and whooping cough to shingles, a lengthy illness that is every bit as nasty as you may have heard.
For help now from a leading 24-hour doctor call House Call Doctor Los Angeles at (310) 849-7991.
