Health experts encourage public to get vaccines for COVID-19, RSV and flu
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Summer is almost over, and that means it's almost flu season.
Two other viruses, COVID-19 and RSV, are also expected to circulate. But for the first time ever in the U.S., vaccines for all three will be available.
Experts say increased transmission is expected now that kids are back in school, but there are ways to keep you and your kids safe, and they say that starts with the vaccine.
COVID-19 numbers have started to rise already in Allegheny County. According to Allegheny Health Network Internal Medicine Physician Dr. Brian Lamb, there are several factors playing into that, including new strains of the virus and school.
"It's the end of summer and people are traveling so people are on airplanes, people are in groups," Lamb said. "So, we are seeing those come back up, but it's a combination of all of this that's probably adding to it."
The current COVID-19 surge is expected to ramp up further when the weather gets colder and people start spending more time inside. But Lamb emphasizes that we are still in a good place. He said hospitals aren't overrun and there isn't a strain on the resources to help take care of patients.
He credits that to the vaccine.
"COVID is never going extinct," Lamb said. "We're probably always going to live with it. It's just a matter of staying in front of it, and this is our way of staying in front of it just like the flu shot every year."
An updated booster vaccine that provides additional protection from the more recent COVID-19 sub-variants of omicron is expected to be rolled out in late September or early October and available in doctor's offices and pharmacies.
Lamb encourages everyone to get it.
"What you want to do is keep your immunity up, and one of the ways to keep your immunity up is to get your shots," he said. "There's no such thing as a one-and-done shot when it comes to respiratory viruses because they're circulating and changing."