What You Should Know About the 2024-2025 Respiratory Season

Each year at this time, several national pharmacy chains begin marketing the annual influenza vaccination, urging consumers to beat the autumn crowds.

It is important for the vaccination-consuming public to know how to time annual immunizations, which routinely include shots or mists for influenza, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

How lucky are we Americans that we have our very own vaccination advisors! The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends that everyone six months and older receive the 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible.

ACIP also recommends adults 60 to 74 years of age with particular health risks and all adults 75 and older receive one lifetime dose of RSV vaccine.

The timing of the annual influenza vaccine is bit trickier. While you’ve likely already noticed those multitude of flu shot advertisements from the national pharmacies, our influenza experts recommend delaying receipt of your annual influenza vaccination until between mid-September and late October. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends the flu shot by the end of October at the latest – that timing should ensure protection through April, which represents the end of respiratory season.

ACIP recommends the COVID-19 and influenza vaccines for everyone 6 months and older. The influenza, COVID and RVS vaccines may be given all at once, but for those who prefer separate vaccine appointments, there is no wait time between the three vaccines (and no wait time if you want to receive just the COVID and flu shots separately).

Misinformation about vaccinations abounds, and so a word about the 15 voting members of ACIP: 14 are experts in family medicine, infectious diseases, internal medicine, immunology, nursing, pediatrics, preventive medicine, public health and virology, while the 15 th is a consumer representative. ACIP also includes eight non-voting members who represent federal agencies responsible for U.S. immunization programs, and 30 others who provide their own immunization expertise.

Information coming from ACIP is the gold standard for immunization; you can depend on its veracity. The ACIP website is available at http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/index.html.

Misinformation particularly abounds about COVID-19. But COVID is a new reality – after a summer surge, Sept. 9, 2024 saw the United States at a 16.3 percent COVID test positivity rate; 2.3 percent of those diagnosed with COVID were sick enough to prompt a visit to the emergency room. Of all deaths in the country, 2.6 percent were being attributed to COVID. The week ending Aug. 17 saw U.S. residents hospitalized at a rate of 4.6 per 100,000 population.

During the 2023-2024 respiratory season, about 35 million cases of flu occurred nationwide; about 400,000 people were hospitalized, and an estimated 25,000 died.

Like influenza, COVID has a great negative impact on those whose health is already compromised. This includes the elderly and those living with disability.

The Aging and Disability Vaccination Collaborative (ADVC) is a national effort to get people vaccinated against COVID, influenza and RSV. Part of the project is to remove barriers preventing older adults and people with disabilities from getting vaccinated.

In 21 counties in Western and Central Montana, ADVC is promoting various vaccine clinics, and facilitating transportation to and from clinics, in-home vaccinations, and outreach and education. The University of Montana’s Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities has established its own ADVC project (https://www.umt.edu/rural-institute/partnership/aging-and-disability-vaccine-collaborative.php), and has partnered in these immunization efforts with Western Montana’s two centers for independent living, Summit Independent Living and Ability Montana. The project is funded by USAging (https://usaging.org), an agency that was funded for a similar national vaccination project by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Community Living.

With supervision, UM pharmacy students are available to administer the project’s vaccinations and assist with outreach and education.

In addition to various clinics in the 21 Western and Central Montana counties, immunizations against influenza, COVID and RSV are also routinely available from primary care providers, federally qualified health centers, local health departments and pharmacies. More information about pharmacy vaccination locations may be obtained at http://www.vaccines.gov.

Medicaid pays or reimburses for COVID and flu shots provided by in-network providers or pharmacies; Medicare Part B pays or reimburses for flu and COVID, and Part D does the same for RSV. Private insurers are required to cover all three immunizations, in-network, without co-payments.

In a spirit to defy misinformation, the CDC defines vaccination confidence as “the belief that vaccines work, are safe, and are part of a trustworthy medical system.”

With that philosophy in mind, I wish for you a healthy 2024-2025 respiratory season.

Karen Sullivan retired in November 2021 as Butte-Silver Bow’s public health officer. She is currently working on vaccination efforts with the Aging and Disability Vaccination Collaborative at the University of Montana’s Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities.