Dr. Modana Yazdi, pediatrician, pleads with parents to get their children vaccinated amid "triple-demic" concerns
NEW YORK - Medical experts are bracing for a "triple-demic" this fall, with cases of RSV, flu and COVID on the rise.
CBS2's Jessica Moore explains why a local pediatrician says we're dropping the ball in protecting our children.
"We have our most precious belongings out there at daycare and school, not wearing a mask and not vaccinated," said Dr. Mondana Yazdi.
Yazdi, a pediatrician, fights back tears as she grapples with a surge in three serious viruses sickening an increasing number of children this year.
"The ERs are packed. Pediatric ERs are packed. The floors are packed with kids that are intubated," Yazdi said.
Doctors are seeing a significant spike in cases of COVID, flu, and RSV, a respiratory virus that can be deadly for young children. Over the past month, cases of RSV have doubled across the country.
Megan Velasquez's 2-month-old son Luciano was hospitalized with RSV last week.
"You could look at the rib cage, and you could see his skin like pulling in as he breathe," she said. "I was just really scared. I didn't know what to expect. I was scared to lose him."
Luciano made a full recovery, but other children aren't as lucky. The CDC says as many as 500 infants die of RSV every year. Yazdi says, as a country, we've let our guard down, and children are suffering.
"Children started getting COVID once the masks came off in March. So parents look at it like, 'oh it's just a cold, it's just a cough, my kid got through it and not vaccinate,'" Yazdi said. "But what we're seeing is I have a 4-year-old patient who had COVID twice. First, very mild, and now he has diabetes. I have a 7-year-old who won't stop seizing. It was her second time getting COVID."
Parents Moore spoke with didn't seem to be overly concerned about the so-called "triple-demic."
"I think with what's going on with COVID and the flus, it's natural to get these things. And when you get these, you overcome them like anything else," said parent Ricky venos.
"I don't get nervous about the flu season," said parent Fred Clark.
But Yazdi is begging her patients to be vigilant.
Doctors say the best protection is getting children vaccinated against flu and COVID. Currently, there is no vaccine for RSV, but one is in development.
"Either put the mask on, or vaccinate, or make me happy and do both. But it's like sending a soldier to war with no guard, and no ammunition, and that soldier is your child," Yazdi said.