Protect your family against 'annoying' COVID-19
10/2/2024 by Robert Jacobson, M.D.
While families may sometimes disagree on the best way to treat an illness, there's one thing we can all agree on: COVID-19 is annoying. It caused a pandemic, and it did not go away when it ended.
Suddenly, we had vaccines against the disease. Some had questions, some argued — were the vaccines rushed? Were they safe? Do they work? Over time, we found out the truth. These vaccines had gone through all the rigors of testing—more than some drugs we use to treat diseases, including COVID.
These vaccines are safe, and they work. They are not perfect, but they reduce disease. They also reduce complications, hospitalizations and deaths.
One annoying thing about COVID is that the virus evolves, like the flu. Every season, we will need the new seasonal COVID vaccine. That's the case for infants (aged 6 months and older), children, adults and the elderly. Younger children, immunocompromised persons, and adults 65 years and older will need more than one dose.
Unlike the flu, the COVID season isn't that seasonal. New strains of the COVID virus kept showing up all summer. The updated vaccines become available in mid-September, and everyone should plan to get at least one dose.
Protect your family against the annoyances that COVID brings, including severe disease. Schedule your COVID vaccination appointment at our Primary Care Vaccination Clinic. Mayo Clinic staff members should plan to receive their flu and COVID vaccinations at one of the many on-campus walk-in clinics if possible.
Robert M. Jacobson, M.D., is the medical director of the Primary Care Immunization Program in Southeast Minnesota. He is a physician in Community Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester and practices in the Baldwin building.