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HOUSTON - As we enter the cold and flu season, doctors are encouraging all Americans to get up to date on their latest immunizations including COVID-19 and the flu.
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In updated guidance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says anyone 6 months and older can now get vaccinated for COVID-19. This month, the FDA approved an updated booster to target new variants.
Dr. Peter Hotez with Baylor College of Medicine says according to the city of Houston's wastewater viral load testing, COVID cases surged this summer compared to the benchmark date in July of 2020.
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"It went up as high is 375% to 400% as of a couple of weeks ago. Interestingly, as of last week, it was down a little bit to 245% so maybe is starting to tail off a little bit, and that's true. Nationally, some of the hospitalizations are flattening out a bit, but not enough to feel confident," Dr. Hotez said.
Dr. Hotez suggests parents consult with their pediatricians before vaccinating their kids. However, he points out that there are more benefits than preventing serious illness.
"Even though the number of pediatric deaths from COVID is still low, it's still higher than flu deaths. We're seeing a fair bit of long COVID in kids, and we don't know what the long-term development and neurodevelopment impact of long COVID is going to be in children. Long COVID can occur after any COVID case, including mild COVID cases but the risk seems to go up with severe COVID. So, by vaccinating your child, you're not only reducing the risk of severe illness but also potentially reducing the risk of long COVID in your child and therefore, long intraneuronal developmental problems," Dr. Hotez said.
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"Another very interesting aspect is now there are some links between COVID, the virus infection, and Type 1 Diabetes. And so, by vaccinating, we don't have that data yet, but potentially, by vaccinating, you could be preventing or reducing the risk of diabetes in your child as well," Dr. Hotez continued.
The CDC says those who’ve recently had COVID can wait up to three months before getting their booster shot.