On September 11, 2023, the Food and Drug Administration approved a new COVID-19 vaccine targeted specifically to a variant known as XBB 1.5. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention followed suit on September 12.
This happened at a time when national and state governments have declared that the COVID health emergency has passed. However, COVID is still in the top five causes of death in the U.S. And in the most recent week available, hospitalizations from COVID were up about 9 percent, deaths were up by more than 10 percent and test positivity in some states was 20 percent or more.
What's causing the latest COVID uptick? Will the new XBB vaccine also be effective against other rapidly emerging strains? Who is the most susceptible to COVID and when should they get the new shot? How long will the new COVID shot be effective? Will older tests and treatments still work against the latest disease variants? What will COVID look like this fall and winter?
KSFR reporter Mary Lou Cooper talked with primary care expert Dr. Jesse Bracamonte at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona to find out the answers to these and other questions.
