Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is something of a contradiction: The leading cause of hospitalization of infants in the United States (58,000 annually) is largely unappreciated beyond the pediatric population. In what essentially is a hidden seasonal epidemic, RSV causes 177,000 hospitalizations and 14,000 deaths annually in the United States in those age 65 years and older.
The COVID-19 omicron variant has been widely observed to cause “milder” disease, but this appears largely to be an illusion caused by the level of immunity via prior infection or vaccination that now exists in the human population.
Like other healthcare workers, infection preventionists have been overwhelmed in the churning waves of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. An unpublished survey conducted by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology and The Ohio State University School of Nursing revealed a “startling” level of stress and burnout.
There is an emerging consensus in the scientific community that is two-fold: COVID-19 is not going away anytime soon, and continuous vaccine boosters eventually could yield diminishing returns. What is needed are new, second-generation vaccines that confer broader immunity against both circulating variants and mutations yet to arise.
