Officials: Get your flu shot and COVID booster before the holidays
NEW YORK -- The FDA has given the green light to COVID-19 boosters for kids as young as 5.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday morning Dr. Ashwin Vasan, New York City's health commissioner, gave an update on the latest on COVID, monkeypox, and polio.
As CBS2's Natalie Duddridge reported, overall the latest statistics conveyed mostly good news, but Vasan reminded the public not to get complacent, and to keep testing and getting boosted, especially ahead of the holidays.
Elementary kids as young as 5 will soon be able to get their booster shots. The FDA approved it and now the CDC just has to sign off.
Since last month, Americans 12 and older have been able to get the updated booster. To date in New York City, 360,000 bivalent boosters have been administered. Statistics show there hasn't been a big rush to get them, and health officials are urging people to seek extra protection ahead of the holidays.
Currently, COVID cases in New York City are stable at about 1,800 per day. The positivity rate, hospitalization and deaths are all decreasing.
But with so many people testing at home, some are questioning the accuracy of the numbers.
"Based on what happened last winter, a new variant could come along, anybody could get it," Long Island City resident David Murphy said.
That's why Vasan is urging everyone to keep testing and getting boosted, especially before the holidays.
"I would not be surprised if there was an increase in transmission into the winter," Vasan said.
As for monkeypox in the city, 136,000 first and second doses have been administered, and cases have dropped to fewer than 10 per day, from a peak of 100 per day in July.
There is still only one polio case identified in New York state. However, ongoing wastewater testing showed a sample collected from an area at the border of Brooklyn and Queens in August was genetically linked to the case of paralytic polio previously identified in Rockland County.
Vasan is urging parents to get their kids the polio vaccine.
"We've seen consistent declines in childhood immunization rates and a suspension of global polio eradication," Vasan said. "All of this has contributed to polio virus coming back to New York."
Since the polio scare, there has been a 9 percent increase in parents vaccinating their kids as of October this year compared to last year, but the numbers are still not up to pre-pandemic levels.
Vasan also says don't forget about getting your flu shot.
When it comes to any of these viruses, numbers can move quickly in either direction, depending on what actions we do -- or do not -- take, the health commissioner said.
