October 'Best Time To Get Yourself Protected' Against COVID: CT DPH

CONNECTICUT — The State Department of Public Health is encouraging residents, especially Connecticut's elderly, to get up to date on their shots.

With October "probably the best time to get yourself protected" against both COVID-19 and influenza, DPH Commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani wants residents to roll up their sleeves, pronto.

"It is most important to get some sort of protection going into the season, so don't let side effects get in your way," Juthani said. Her remarks came during a Monday morning news conference.

Juthani said many residents received COVID-19 booster shots during the summer, coinciding with a spike in reported cases. She recommended they wait around three months — toward the end of October, "the height of our respiratory viral disease season" — for their boosters.

"Make sure that you get that shot to give yourself protection through all the big holidays that are going to come … when people are going to be gathering with friends and loved ones through November, December and going into the new year," she said.

Flu and RSV cases remain low in Connecticut, Juthani said, with the great majority of respiratory illness cases reported to DPH "all related to COVID."

About 1-2 residents per week are being hospitalized for COVID in Connecticut, with the 80 and older age group the most represented by far. The number of COVID-related deaths is also much higher among the elderly.

"Age is one of our basic, biggest risk factors," Juthani said.

During the 2023-24 season, 70 percent of the people who were hospitalized for COVID were age 65 and older, and 88 percent of hospitalized adults had not received the most updated COVID vaccine, according to DPH. There have been 139 COVID cases, and one COVID-related death, reported in Connecticut nursing homes this season, from 184 facilities out of the 199 operating in the state.

DPH is also strongly recommending that all residents age 60 and older receive the one-time respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, shot, after checking with their physician.

Juthani promoted DPH's new website which is updated Thursdays with the latest respiratory viral disease numbers. She also touted a CDC site detailing where the vaccines are available, and a US Department of Health & Human Services website which provides information on where residents can go to get their free COVID tests from the federal government.

The commissioner said it was important to note that the number of cases indicated on the DPH website reflected only those that were reported to the state, and did not include the results of self-testing.

Only about half as many residents have gotten a COVID shot than have received a flu shot over the past two seasons, Juthani said, despite COVID's much higher mortality rate.

She chalks the stat up to COVID being a continuous threat all year, versus the flu's seasonality. People who contacted COVID in the summer feel they are protected against the virus:

"Now, when it's the next fall, there's hesitation. They say, 'Well, I just had COVID. Do I really need the shot?'"

To those who resist getting a COVID-19 booster because it makes them sick, Justhani suggests trying a different vaccine from among the Pfizer, Moderna, and Novavax brands.

"Just try something. I think at the end of the day, we want you to really boost your immunity so that you're going to have your best chance of success."