Latest news with #Loehr
Gulf Insider
17-04-2025
- Health
- Gulf Insider
CDC Advisers Weigh Limiting COVID-19 Vaccine Use
Advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are considering advising the agency to narrow use of COVID-19 vaccines.A majority of experts in a subgroup of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which advises the CDC on vaccines, have determined that the COVID-19 vaccines should not be universally recommended, according to a presentation Dr. Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos of the CDC delivered to the panel on April 15. Seventy-six percent of the advisers in the subgroup studying the matter said they support a non-universal recommendation as of April 3. That's up from 67 percent in February. Advisers who were polled said they would be comfortable with any non-universal recommendation, such as only recommending the vaccines for certain age groups. 'I'm very happy that we're seriously considering a risk-based recommendation,' Dr. Jamie Loehr, an ACIP member, said during Tuesday's meeting. Loehr also said he was concerned that if a risk-based recommendation is implemented, it might send a message that COVID-19 is no longer dangerous, when it's still causing hospitalizations and deaths. Charlotte Moser, the consumer representative committee member, said she was also supportive of narrowing the recommendation. She said she was thinking that a narrower recommendation, though, should emphasize the importance of vaccinating young children. Dr. Denise Jamieson, another member, said she did not think a narrower recommendation was wise. She noted that, according to an unpublished CDC analysis of medical claims, some three-quarters of U.S. adults have at least one condition, such as chronic liver disease, that puts them at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19. Loehr said that in his own practice, the percentage is much lower. Advisers said they would be comfortable with any non-universal recommendation, such as only recommending the vaccines for certain age groups. The CDC currently recommends all Americans aged 6 months and older receive one of the available COVID-19 vaccines, even if they have been vaccinated in the past. ACIP merely provides advice to the CDC, but the agency typically turns the advice into official recommendations. A formal ACIP vote on advice to the CDC on the next round of COVID-19 vaccines, or the 2025–2026 vaccines, is not expected to take place until June, according to the CDC. In a separate presentation delivered during Tuesday's meeting, data from CDC networks showed the effectiveness of the current round of vaccines provides a boost in protection against hospitalization that's under 50 percent. Ruth Link-Gelles, another CDC employee, who delivered the presentation, concluded that the vaccines 'provided additional protection against COVID-19-associated emergency department and urgent care visits and hospitalizations compared to no 2024-2025 vaccine dose.' The high level of existing immunity after COVID-19 infection may be affecting the effectiveness results, Link-Gelles said. Prior infection 'contributes protection against future disease, though protection wanes over time,' she said. About 22 percent of U.S. adults have received one of the 2024–2025 COVID-19 vaccines as of late March 2025, compared to 21 percent who received the vaccines available in 2023 and early 2024 through late March 2024, according to the CDC. Hospitalizations with COVID-19 are down from the prior year, while hospitalizations with influenza are up from 2023–2024, according to a third presentation. Most of the people who were hospitalized with COVID-19 had not received one of the latest COVID-19 vaccines before being hospitalized. Also read: Audit: New York's Governor Spent $453M On 247,343 Medical Devices For COVID… State Used Only 3
CBS News
15-04-2025
- Health
- CBS News
CDC weighing end to universal COVID vaccine recommendations
A majority of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's work group on COVID-19 vaccines now supports ending the agency's pandemic-era recommendation for virtually all Americans to get vaccinated against the virus each year, officials said Tuesday. Instead of the agency's longstanding "universal" recommendation, most of the CDC's advisers and health officials favor shifting to guidance based on people's individual risk of more severe disease. While a final decision has not yet been made, this could mean that only adults ages 65 years and older would still be recommended to get at least two doses every year, under a policy option laid out to the agency's advisers, as well as people who have an underlying health condition putting them at higher risk. Among those backing the switch, most also want "permissive language to allow anyone wanting protection from COVID-19 vaccination to receive one," the CDC's Dr. Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos said at a Tuesday meeting of the panel. A formal vote on the new guidance is expected in June by the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The panel's votes are important because they influence ways that the federal government supports immunizations, ranging from how insurance companies are required to cover vaccines to how doctors talk about the shots. "I'm very happy that we're seriously considering a risk-based recommendation. I'm glad that we're taking this as a reasonable possibility," said Dr. Jamie Loehr, one of the members of the advisory committee. Loehr and other advisers also acknowledged they had hesitations about the feasibility of the change. Loehr said he worried also about the message it would send. "COVID is still a fairly dangerous disease and very, very common. We're not talking about 10 cases of mpox. We're talking about thousands of hospitalizations and deaths," he said. The agency's work group has been wrestling since last year with the prospect of narrowing federal recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines. In recent months, additional data was presented to the work group on prevalence of infection-induced immunity to the virus, long COVID, multisystem inflammatory syndrome and COVID-19 vaccine uptake, the agency said. Less than a quarter of adults and around 13% of children have gotten a COVID-19 vaccination this past season, CDC data shows , despite an uptick in seniors getting a shot. That is a fraction of the nearly half of children and adults who have gotten a flu shot . Outside medical groups have opposed scaling back recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines, citing concerns that the changes would add hurdles to getting the shots. "The reality is most of these vaccines, certainly for adults, are being given in pharmacies. The risk-based recommendations are more difficult for pharmacists because patients have to self-declare their illnesses or the pharmacists have to check their medication list," Dr. Sandra Fryhofer, a member of the work group and the panel's American Medical Association representative, said at the meeting. Analysis presented to the panel suggests that narrowing the recommendations would make little difference for many Americans. More than 74% of American adults have a condition that puts them at higher risk, ranging from asthma to obesity. But Dr. Noel Brewer, another member of the work group, did not appear to be concerned that a narrower recommendation would worsen vaccination rates. "There's not clear evidence at all that risk-based approaches are less effective. It's certainly something we've all talked about and something that some of the companies have shared for many years, but the data supporting that claim are not really there," said Brewer. The work group looked at data from 2010 , when the CDC went in the reverse direction with flu shots: broadening recommendations for influenza vaccination from just people with high-risk conditions to virtually all Americans ages 6 months and older. Vaccination coverage among adults under 50 with high-risk conditions increased slightly from 2010 to 2011, but then plateaued. "Thereafter, no significant changes were seen among people with high risk conditions when vaccine recommendations targeted people with high risk conditions only, compared to a universal vaccine policy," the CDC's Panagiotakopoulos said.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New Iowa Behavioral Health Districts to affect Siouxland health services
SPENCER, Iowa (KCAU) — There are many changes coming to the Mental Health and Disability Services (MHDS) regions across Iowa. Last year, Governor Kim Reynolds signed a bill that will restructure Iowa's 32 MHDS regions and Integrated Provider Networks into seven Behavioral Health Districts. The new districts will go into effect on July 1, eliminating Care Connections of Northern Iowa. SD Gov. Rhoden to offer new way to counter property taxes 'Ultimately, it will be all of our staff,' CEO Melissa Loehr said. 'We have six individuals, including myself, that will no longer have jobs with this transition.' 'Our goal is really to make sure that our clients who are receiving services have as seamless a transition process as possible,' client finance director Jenn Dkyshoorn said. 'We want to make sure that there's no gaps and disruptions to those services as we make those transitions.' Care Connections said there are some concerns with this bill. 'With the transition, with the mental health realignment, our number one concern is obviously our clients that we serve,' Loehr said. 'And then also providing guidance to the counties in the areas that they need to maybe pick up the areas that we would do. So really providing that guidance to them.' 'As we get more information, we will start to begin reaching out to our clients to explain more in the details,' Dykshoorn said. 'Specifically, our service coordinators will be working with the clients to make sure that we form individualized care plans, transitioning over to those new awardees.' Iowans are facing uncertainty as July 1 approaches, but the staff said their priority will always be their clients. Sioux City Public Schools Foundation holding do-over prom for 2020 graduates 'The goal in mind and the goal that they have set is the same goal that I have to see it through,' Loehr said. 'And so therefore, we will do everything in our power to make that successful for the clients and the consumers that receive our services and the families that support them.' Siouxlanders that use regional mental health systems should reach out to their offices with any questions they may have about changes to their services. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
