Biden admin pushes trio of vaccines, including brand new Covid shots, to prevent ‘tripledemic’

To prevent what they've termed a "tripledemic," the Centers for Disease Control has urged Americans 60 years of age and older, as well as those who are immunocompromised, to get a dose of the recently approved respiratory syncytial virus vaccine in addition to updated Covid-19 vaccines and flu shots. The flu shot changes every year in an attempt to keep up with the latest strains.

On Thursday, it was revealed that CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky had endorsed an advisory committee's recommendations regarding the use of RSV vaccines developed by GSK and Pfizer, the first of their kind approved for use in the United States. The shots are scheduled to be available in the fall.

"Adults at the highest risk for severe RSV illness include older adults, adults with chronic heart or lung disease, adults with weakened immune systems, and adults living in nursing homes or long-term care facilities," the CDC said in a press release.

"These vaccines provide an opportunity to help protect older adults against severe RSV illness at a time when multiple respiratory infections are likely to circulate," the agency continued, urging healthcare providers to "talk to their adult patients about what other vaccines they will need this fall to help prevent respiratory infections."

In an interview with the New York Times, Boston Children's Hospital vaccine program director and Food and Drug Administration adviser Dr. Ofer Levy called the availability of vaccines against RSV, Covid, and the flu a "godsend" for vulnerable Americans. He noted that tens of thousands die every year as the result of viral infections.

Levy suggested eligible Americans should get all three shots at once, however other experts warned against the idea, saying it would be safer to spread them out to avoid complications.

In the lead up to colder months of the year, pharmaceutical companies have ramped up production of new vaccines. The aforementioned RSV vaccine was approved in May, and in June Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Novovax were tapped by the FDA to create updated formulas to target new strains of Covid.