(Reuters) – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday it expects to see an increase in rates of COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in the country in the coming weeks, as they often do during the holiday season. .
Large gatherings, traveling and spending a lot of time indoors, which often happens during the holidays, tend to cause more germs to spread more easily, the health organization said.
The CDC expects flu and COVID-19 hospitalizations to begin increasing in the coming weeks. It is also seeing an increase in RSV activity, especially in young children, in the southern and eastern US
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved updated vaccines for COVID-19 made by Pfizer (NYSE:) and German partner BioNTech (NASDAQ:), and Modern (NASDAQ:) in August. The health regulator has also given approval for emergency use of Novavax (NASDAQ:) is a traditional protein-based shot.
Currently, there are three FDA-approved RSV vaccines made by GSK, Moderna and Pfizer.
As of October 5, 11.2% of adults age 18 or older received the updated COVID-19 vaccine and 36.9% of adults age 75 or older received the RSV shot, according to data from CDC.
