The EG.5 strain of the coronavirus was classified 'variant of interest' by the World Health Organisation. The health body, however, said the variant did not pose a threat to the public health.
for seniors there have been about 88 hospitalizations for every 100,000 people who are 65 and older so far which is nearly three times the average hospitalization rate. for those kids under 5, there have been about 50 hospitalizations for every 100,000, which is also particularly high. so far this season flu hospitalizations for children younger than 5 have already surpassed the total for half of the past 12 seasons. and, as you mentioned, vaccine coverage, we should talk about that, is low overall but particularly among black and hispanic adults as well as pregnant people and those living in rural areas. and more research just came out about how well the bivalent vaccinations work. tell us about that. the bivalent booster target the original coronavirus strain and omicron subvariants. the shots became available in september but only 14% of the population has gotten the updated booster. 94% of seniors completed at
following the death of queen elizabeth. this comes as the white house begins a push to give americans an undated covid booster in the fall and potentially another surge. it includes the acquisition of more man 170 million doses of the new booster that will target the original coronavirus strain as well as the highly contagious ba.5 omicron subvariant. the administration will also urge schools across the country to hold at least one vaccination clinic before thanksgiving. joining us now to talk about it is msnbc medical contributor dr. hilton, thanks for joining us. let s talk about this new booster. there has been some speculation that some americans, should they, when should they get it? should they get it right away? should they wait a little bit to see if they have protection through the fall and winter and how bad do you think the new surge could be? well, you know, unfortunately, i think we have been around to a couple of
officials to make it available to the uk public aged 18 and above. our health reporter, smitha mundasad, told us about the significance of the updated vaccine. the uk medicines regulatory authorities say this is a strengthened tool in our armoury against coronavirus. the original vaccines out there were designed against the original coronavirus strain back in 2020. this vaccine is designed to protect against that original strain and the omicron variant that is now common across the world. moderna did testing in about 437 people, and they say from these preliminary tests that these people had a better immune response against the omicron virus that is out there right now. we have yet to see how that will play out in the real world, but the authorities have approved it now for people over 18. the question is, who will get it? we don t know that yet but we are expecting a decision quite soon. we do know there are about 26