CDC urges everyone to get COVID-19 vaccine as holiday season nears

During the holiday season, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) strongly encourages everyone 6 months of age and older to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Dr. Charlene Wong, the senior advisor for health strategy in the office of the director at the CDC, points out that parents might be surprised to see even healthy children ending up in hospitals with COVID-19.

Flu and RSV levels are also increasing, but most respiratory virus hospitalizations this season have been among people with Covid-19, CDC data shows.

"It's been revealed that even perfectly healthy kids are falling ill. Surprisingly, more than half of the children under two years old hospitalized this season had no pre-existing medical conditions. Essentially, they were otherwise completely healthy," Dr. Charlene Wong, pediatrician, said.

She expressed concern about the low vaccination rates among adults and children in the United States. As of mid-November, only about 14% of adults and a mere 5% of children in the country have received the latest vaccine.

Wong was formerly with the State Department of Health and Human Services in North Carolina under the leadership of former health secretary and current CDC director Mandy Cohen. Wong emphasized that they are employing the same successful strategies nationwide.

"At the CDC, we are being proactive in engaging trusted messengers, including healthcare providers and community-based organizations, just as we did in North Carolina," Wong said.

Addressing the growing mistrust in science, she says, "We want to ensure that individuals have the necessary information to make informed decisions about safeguarding themselves and their families."