COVID-19 Data Dispatch

Tag: Long COVID

  • COVID source shout-out: Patient-Led Research Collaborative

    In this final newsletter, I wanted to highlight one of my favorite sources for new research on COVID-19 and Long COVID (and one that published a new paper recently): the Patient-Led Research Collaborative (PLRC). PLRC is an independent research group including people with Long COVID and related chronic diseases, such as ME/CFS and POTS, who also have scientific research experience.

    This organization has been a leader in Long COVID research since May 2020, when it published a study describing persistent symptoms among people who got COVID-19 earlier that spring. The group’s further papers have included comprehensive analyses of Long COVID symptoms and reviews of other research. In addition to running studies, the organization funds biomedical research, publishes patient-generated hypotheses for scientists, and advocates for better patient engagement in Long COVID research.

    PLRC has regularly pushed the Long COVID field forward, with papers addressing under-studied topics like reproductive health and mental health. Their latest paper similarly provides data about working with Long COVID, an issue that is under-studied yet frequently discussed in the Long COVID community. The paper summarizes results from a survey of about 500 people with Long COVID describing the condition’s impact on their work.

    From the survey results, the researchers found four primary themes: 1) people with Long COVID want to return to work, motivated by financial pressures and a sense of purpose for their jobs; 2) diverse, complex, and sometimes inconsistent Long COVID symptoms can interfere with work and other day-to-day tasks; 3) people face disbelief and stigma due to Long COVID; and 4) support from medical providers is important for returning to work. These findings align with stories I’ve heard from people with Long COVID whom I’ve interviewed for stories, as well as conversations I’ve read online.

    If you’re looking to keep up with impactful Long COVID research, PLRC—along with the organization’s collaborators and projects it has funded—is an important group to follow.

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  • Sources and updates, November 12

    • New vaccination data from the CDC: The CDC has started publishing vaccination data reflecting how many Americans have received COVID-19, flu, and RSV shots in fall 2023. These numbers are estimates, based on the CDC’s National Immunization Survey, as the agency is no longer directly compiling COVID-19 vaccinations from state and local health agencies. (See this post from last month for more details.) According to the estimates, about 28% of American adults have received a 2023 flu shot, compared to 10% who have received a 2023 COVID-19 shot. The numbers reflect poor communication about and accessibility challenges with this year’s COVID-19 vaccines.
    • FDA approves a rapid COVID-19 test: Following the end of the federal public health emergency this spring, the FDA has advised companies that produce COVID-19 tests to submit their products for full approval, transitioning out of the emergency use authorizations that these tests received earlier in the pandemic. The FDA has now fully approved an at-home COVID-19 test: Flowflex’s rapid, antigen test. This is the second at-home test to receive approval, following a molecular test a few months ago. The Floxflex test “correctly identified 89.8% of positive and 99.3% of negative samples” from people with COVID-like respiratory symptoms, according to a study that the FDA reviewed for this approval.
    • WHO updates COVID-19 treatment guidance: This week, the World Health Organization updated its guidance on drugs and other treatment options for severe COVID-19 symptoms. A group of WHO experts has regularly reviewed the latest evidence and updated this guidance since fall 2020. The update includes guidelines on classifying COVID-19 patients based on their risk of potential hospitalization, recommendations for drugs such as nirmatrelvir and corticosteroids, and recommendations against other drugs such as invermectin and hydroxychloroquine. Clinicians can explore the guidance through an interactive tool that summarizes the expert group’s findings.
    • Gargling with salt water to reduce symptoms: Speaking of COVID-19 treatments: gargling with salt water may help people with milder COVID-19 symptoms recover more quickly, according to a new study presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology’s annual conference. The researchers compared COVID-19 outcomes among people who did and did not use salt water for 14 days while sick; those who used the treatment had lower risks of hospitalization and reported shorter periods of symptoms. This study has not yet been peer-reviewed and more research will be needed, but it’s still helpful evidence to back up salt water as a potential treatment (something I’ve personally seen recommended anecdotally in the last couple of years).
    • Allergies as potential Long COVID risk factors: Another study that caught my attention this week: researchers at the University of Magdeburg in Germany conducted a review of connections between allergies and Long COVID. The researchers compiled data from 13 past papers, including a total of about 10,000 study participants. Based on these studies, people who have asthma or rhinitis (i.e. runny nose, congestion, and similar symptoms, usually caused by seasonal allergies) are at higher risk for developing Long COVID after a COVID-19 case. The researchers note that this evidence is “very uncertain” and more investigation is needed; however, the study aligns with reports of people with Long COVID getting diagnosed with mast cell activation syndrome (or MCAS, an allergy-related condition).
    • Dropping childhood vaccination rates: One more notable study, from the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR): vaccination rates for common childhood vaccines are declining among American kindergarteners, according to CDC research. CDC scientists reviewed data reflecting the childhood vaccinations that are required by 49 states and D.C. for the 2022-23 school year, and compared those numbers to past years. Overall, 93% of kindergarteners had completed their state-required vaccinations last school year, down from 95% in the 2019-20 school year, while vaccine exemptions increased to 3%. In 10 states, more than 5% of kindergarteners had exemptions to their required vaccines—signifying increased risk of vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks in schools, according to the CDC.

  • Sources and updates, November 5

    • New respiratory virus dashboard for Europe: Residents of about 50 European countries can now follow respiratory virus trends for their nations on a new dashboard developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The dashboard compiles data from patient visits to healthcare facilities, laboratory testing, and genetic sequencing of coronavirus variants, according to a press release by the ECDC. Viewers can find summary trends for influenza-like illness as well as specific trends for COVID-19, flu, and RSV. This dashboard is a great step forward for standardizing surveillance data across countries.
    • Medicaid unwinding update from KFF: This week, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) published an update to its Medicaid Enrollment and Unwinding Tracker, which follows the Americans who lost their health insurance following the end of a Medicaid rule tied to the federal public health emergency for COVID-19. At least 10 million people have lost Medicaid coverage as of November 1, KFF reports, though the researchers acknowledge that this number is likely an undercount due to limited data. While disenrollment rates vary by state, overall, 71% of people who lost Medicaid coverage did so for “procedural reasons,” i.e. paperwork issues, according to KFF’s analysis.
    • New Long COVID prevalence estimates: In a new paper, published this week in PLOS ONE, researchers at Dartmouth and University College London estimate Long COVID prevalence in the U.S. based on six months of data from the U.S. Census and CDC’s Household Pulse Survey. (Longtime readers may remember that this survey is one of my personal favorite sources for Long COVID data.) About 14% of respondents surveyed between June and December 2022 reported that they had experienced Long COVID at some point, half of them during the time they were surveyed, the researchers found. Americans with less education and lower incomes were more likely to report Long COVID symptoms, and the condition was correlated with physical and mental difficulties such as trouble dressing and bathing.
    • Vaccine confidence falling in the U.S.: A new study from the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania finds that vaccine confidence is declining for a variety of diseases, not just COVID-19. The researchers compared results from similar surveys conducted in October 2023 and in April 2021, both of which included about 1,600 people selected for a nationally representative sample. Confidence rates in COVID-19 vaccines dropped from 75% to 63%, while confidence rates that all vaccines approved in the U.S. are generally safe fell from 77% to 71%. At the same time, the researchers found that more survey respondents believed incorrect statements, such as that ivermectin was an effective treatment for COVID-19.
    • Reasons for masking in Japan: One more study that caught my attention this week, on a more positive note: a researcher at Osaka University examined Japanese use of masks for COVID-19. Among participants in the researcher’s online surveys, the majority reported still wearing masks in June 2023, even though COVID-19 guidelines in Japan became less strict earlier this year. Social norms in Japan contribute to this behavior, the survey found, as respondents reported that they continued to mask both to avoid infection and to appear “normal” in public spaces. The study provides data behind well-known social norms in Japan, while offering some hope to those of us “lone maskers” in places where the norms are quite different.

  • Sources and updates, October 29

    • Healthcare worker burnout trend backed up by new data: The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated a growing burnout crisis among healthcare workers in the U.S., as many articles and scientific papers have explored in the last couple of years. Two studies from the past week add more data to back up the trend. CDC researchers shared the results of a survey of about 2,000 workers, finding that workers were more likely to report poor mental health and burnout in 2022 than in 2018, while harassment and a lack of support at work contributed to increased burnout. Another research group (at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Washington University in St. Louis) also surveyed healthcare workers and found that many experienced food insecurity and financial challenges; workers with worse employer benefits were more likely to increase these challenges.
    • Viral load not necessarily associated with symptoms: This paper is a rare, relatively recent update on how COVID-19 symptoms connect to viral load, or the amount of virus that a patient has in their respiratory tract. The higher a patient’s viral load, the more likely they are to infect others, making this an important metric for contagiousness. Researchers at Emory University studied viral loads in about 350 people diagnosed with Omicron variants between April 2022 and April 2023. Patients tended to have their highest viral loads around the fourth day of symptoms, a change from studies done on earlier variants (when viral loads tended to peak along with symptoms starting). As Mara Aspinall and Liz Ruark explain in their testing newsletter, these results have implications for rapid at-home tests, which are most accurate when viral loads are high: if you’re symptomatic but negative on a rapid test, keep testing for several days, and consider isolating anyway.
    • Updated vaccines are key for protection: Another recent paper, in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, examines how last year’s bivalent COVID-19 vaccines worked against recent coronavirus variants using data from the Kaiser Permanente health system. The study included records from about 123,000 people who had received at least the original vaccine series, examining health system visits from August 2022 to April 2023. People who received an updated vaccine in fall 2022 were significantly less likely to have severe COVID-19, the researchers found. “By mid-April, 2023, individuals previously vaccinated only with wild-type vaccines had little protection against COVID-19,” the researchers wrote. This year’s updated vaccine may have a similar impact through spring 2024.
    • Gut fungi as a potential driver for Long COVID: Long COVID, like ME/CFS and other chronic conditions, may be associated with problems in patients’ gut microbiomes, i.e. the communities of microorganisms that live in our digestive systems. A new paper in Nature Immunology from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine hones in on one fungal species that may be particularly good at causing problems. The species, Candida albicans, can grow in the intestines of severe COVID-19 and Long COVID patients, triggering to inflammation and other immune system issues. This paper describes results from patient samples as well as a mouse model mimicking how this fungal species grows in COVID-19 patients’ guts.
    • Another potential Long COVID biomarker: One more notable Long COVID paper from this week: researchers at the University of Alberta studied blood samples from people with the condition, and compared their results to people who had acute COVID-19 but didn’t go on to develop long-term symptoms. The scientists used machine learning to develop a computer model differentiating between blood composition of people who did and didn’t develop Long COVID. They identified taurine as one specific amino acid that might be particularly important, as levels of taurine were lower among patients with more Long COVID symptoms. The study could be used to inform diagnostic tests of Long COVID, as well as potential treatments to restore taurine.

  • Sources and updates, October 22

    • Serotonin as a potential Long COVID biomarker: The chemical messenger serotonin might play a role in causing Long COVID symptoms, according to a new paper published this week in Cell. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and colleagues studied blood samples of people with Long COVID and animal models of the condition. They found that people with Long COVID have reduced levels of serotonin throughout their bodies, and that these reductions are correlated with common Long COVID symptoms such as brain fog and autonomic dysfunction. The study also examines biological mechanisms that could play a role in causing reduced serotonin; it provides new information about how a coronavirus infection could trigger long-term symptoms, as well as potential biomarkers for clinical trials. For more context, see this coverage in STAT News.
    • Healthcare costs of Long COVID: Another Long COVID study from this week, posted as a preprint in The Lancet: researchers at University College London tracked about 282,000 people with Long COVID over the course of two years, compiling their healthcare costs from National Health System (NHS) data. The study included people diagnosed with Long COVID between January 2020 and January 2023, compared with people who did not have Long COVID but had similar demographic characteristics. Long COVID led to higher healthcare spending, the study found, costing about 3,400 British pounds per patient per year. The researchers also noted that, for people with Long COVID, cost increased progressively over time. These costs are far greater for people in the U.S. where most healthcare is privatized.
    • Hospital-acquired COVID-19 cases: And another British study: researchers at the U.K. Health Security Agency and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine analyzed data from about 350 British hospitals to estimate the prevalence of hospital-acquired coronavirus infections, or people who got the virus while in the hospital for something else. The team found that hospital-acquired infections represented 95,000 to 167,000 cases between June 2020 and March 2021 (i.e. 1% to 2% of all hospital admissions during this period). The researchers also found that people who got COVID-19 at the hospital were more likely to transmit it to other patients, and that more crowded hospitals with fewer single rooms were more likely to have in-hospital transmission. This study demonstrates a need for better infection control measures in hospitals, such as masking, improved ventilation, etc.
    • Wastewater surveillance for climate-resilient pathogens: In a new article in Science, researchers at the Rockefeller Foundation and the Santa Fe Institute argue that wastewater surveillance should be expanded on a global scale with a interest in tracking pathogens that are resilient to climate change. Pathogens like cholera, Lyme disease, dengue virus, and Zika virus, which can spread more widely in a warming planet, are posing increased risks to global health, the authors explain. Wastewater surveillance—as a population-level, potentially-quick-responding monitoring tool—can help track these pathogens more quickly than traditional tracking methods that rely on medical facilities sharing individual health data. The authors also explain barriers to global wastewater surveillance such as the cost of these programs and their prevalence so far in higher-income countries, as opposed to in some countries where surveillance may be most needed. Significant investment is necessary to build a truly effective system, they argue.

  • COVID source shout-out: Diagnosing and managing ME/CFS

    As research on Long COVID progresses, many scientists and clinicians working on this disease are learning from other chronic conditions that share symptoms with—and are often co-diagnosed with—Long COVID. One of the most common is myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), a condition characterized by extreme fatigue that often gets worse after physical or mental exertion.

    Despite impacting millions of people prior to the pandemic, ME/CFS is not well studied; research into the condition is underfunded, and doctors typically don’t learn about it during their training. A new paper from the Rochester Mayo Clinic and ME Action, a ME/CFS advocacy group, may help change this, by offering guidelines for doctors who have patients with this condition.

    The paper describes common ME/CFS symptoms, provides guidance on diagnosing the condition, explains how ME/CFS may intersect with other chronic conditions, and shares symptom management techniques, such as pacing to avoid post-exertional malaise and monitoring symptoms over time. Mayo Clinic clinicians can read the paper for continuing medical education credit.

    In the week since it was published, the paper has seen wildly high engagement metrics as people with ME/CFS and Long COVID have shared it, study author Jaime Seltzer (from ME Action) wrote on Twitter. Seltzer encouraged people in these communities to share the paper with their clinicians, as a resource for doctors who weren’t previously familiar with ME/CFS.

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  • Sources and updates, October 15

    • Directory of COVID-19 advocacy groups: The COVID Advocacy Initiative, a group working to advocate for better COVID-19 safety measures and form connections among advocates, compiled this directory of advocacy groups across the U.S. and Canada. If you’re looking to get involved with organizing for improved public health, you can likely find a group near you on this list—or get inspired to start a new one!
    • HHS funds next-generation vaccine candidates: In an update for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)’s Project Next Gen, the agency announced funding for three next-gen vaccine candidates: two nasal vaccines developed by companies CastleVax and Codaenix, and one self-amplifying mRNA vaccine developed by Gritstone Bio. HHS also announced funding for companies that will support clinical trials of these vaccines, monoclonal antibody research, testing research, and other preparedness efforts. The awards add up to $500 million, out of $5 billion in total dedicated to Project Next Gen.
    • Wastewater surveillance of variants in South Africa: Speaking of improved testing, a new paper in Nature Communications this week reports on how wastewater surveillance may be used to monitor SARS-CoV-2 variants. Researchers in Johannesburg, South Africa (at the country’s national health agency and a local university) sampled sewage from several metro areas, then used sequencing to identify coronavirus variants. Sequencing data from the wastewater samples consistently matched samples from patients, the researchers found, and even identified new variants. The study adds to other evidence demonstrating wastewater’s value for tracking the coronavirus’ continued evolution.
    • Vascular function issues in Long COVID and ME/CFS: Another new paper that caught my attention this week: researchers at the University of the West of Scotland in Glasgow studied cardiovascular issues among people with Long COVID and ME/CFS. Upon testing patients in both groups (as well as controls, or people who don’t have either condition) to measure their blood flow, the researchers found that these patients have worse circulation. Such vascular dysfunction could contribute to cardiovascular and respiratory symptoms common in Long COVID and ME/CFS, and align with other research about microclots in Long COVID, the researchers wrote.
    • Monoclonal antibody infusions for Long COVID: One more notable Long COVID paper: a group of researchers in Florida, including well-known ME/CFS clinician Nancy Klimas, report that three people with Long COVID experienced remission from their symptoms following monoclonal antibody infusions. The patients received a treatment made by Regeneron, which is a cocktail of two monoclonal antibodies; it used to be a common treatment for acute COVID-19, but doesn’t work well against newer variants. While a small study (again, case study of three patients!), the paper suggests that monoclonal antibodies could be helpful for people whose Long COVID followed infection with an earlier, pre-Delta variant. A clinical trial of a similar treatment is currently progressing at te University of California San Francisco.

  • Sources and updates, October 8

    • Vaccination disparities in long-term care facilities: A new study in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report shares vaccination patterns from about 1,800 nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and other long-term care facilities across the U.S., focusing on the bivalent booster (or, last fall’s vaccine). The CDC researchers found significant disparities in these vaccinations: vaccine coverage was lowest among Black and Hispanic residents compared to other demographics, and was lowest in the South and Southeast compared to other regions. Future vaccination campaigns need to make it easy for these groups to get their shots, the authors suggest; but based on how the 2023 rollout has gone so far, this trend seems likely to continue.
    • Reasons for poor bivalent booster uptake: Speaking of last fall’s boosters, a study from researchers at the University of Arizona suggests reasons why people didn’t get the shots last year. Researchers surveyed about 2,200 Arizona residents who had received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose. Among the survey respondents who didn’t get last year’s booster, the most common reason for not doing so was a belief that a prior infection made the shot unnecessary (40%), concerns about vaccine side effects (32%), believing the booster wouldn’t provide additional protection over prior shots (29%), and safety concerns (23%). As with the study above, this paper shows weaknesses in the U.S.’s recent vaccine promotion strategies.
    • At-home tests are useful but far from perfect: Researchers at Nagoya University and the University of Oxford used mathematical models to study how different safety measures impact chances of COVID-19 outbreaks. The researchers developed models based on contact tracing data reflecting how Omicron spreads through groups. Rapid, at-home, antigen tests are a useful but imperfect method for reducing outbreak risk, the study found, with daily testing reducing the risk of a school or workplace outbreak by 45% compared to a scenario in which new cases are identified by symptoms only. “In high-contact settings, or when a new variant emerges, mitigations other than antigen tests will be necessary,” one of the scientists said in a statement.
    • Long-term symptoms from non-COVID infections: The prevalence of Long COVID has led many scientists to develop new interest in chronic conditions that may arise after other common infections, such as the flu and other respiratory viruses. One recent study from Queen Mary University of London identifies a potential pattern, using data from COVIDENCE UK, a long-term study tracking about 20,000 people through monthly surveys. Researchers compared symptoms between people who had a COVID-19 diagnosis and those with other respiratory infections, looking at the month following infection. They found similar risks of health issues in the one-month timeframe for both groups, though specific symptoms (loss of taste and smell, dizziness) were more specific to Long COVID. Of course, some people in the “non-COVID” group could have had COVID-19 without a positive test; still, the data indicate more, longer-term research is needed.
    • Autoimmune disorders following COVID-19: In another Long COVID-related paper, researchers at Yonsei University and St. Vincent’s Hospital in South Korea found that patients had increased risks of autoimmune and autoinflammatory disorders following COVID-19 cases. The study used patient records from South Korea’s national public health system, comparing about 354,000 people who had COVID-19 diagnoses to 6.1 million controls. COVID-19 patients had a significant risk of new autoimmune issues within several months after infection; new diagnoses included alopecia (or hair loss), Crohn’s disease (inflammatory bowel issues), sarcoidosis (overactive immune system), and more. These conditions should be considered by doctors evaluating potential Long COVID patients, the researchers wrote in their paper.
    • New climate vulnerability index: This last item isn’t directly COVID-19 related, but may be useful in evaluating community risks for public health threats. The Environmental Defense Fund, Texas A&M University, and other partners have launched the U.S. Climate Vulnerability Index, a database providing Census tract-level information about how our changing climate will impact different communities. Communities are ranked from low to high climate vulnerability, with detailed data available on sociodemographic characteristics as well as potential extreme weather events and health trends.

  • COVID source shout-out: Moving closer to Long COVID biomarkers

    Scientists are moving closer to biomarkers, or clear biological indicators, of Long COVID. A new study—posted this week in Nature ahead of full publication—identifies clear differences between blood samples of people who have the condition and those who don’t.

    The study was a collaborative effort between researchers at Mount Sinai (David Putrino and his team) and Yale University (Akiko Iwasaki and her team). Both of these research groups have been leaders in studying Long COVID: Mount Sinai was one of the first health institutions to start caring for people with Long COVID back in spring 2020, while the Yale group has analyzed patients’ immune systems in ways that go far beyond typical medical testing.

    The differences identified by this study fall into “three big areas,” Putrino wrote in a Twitter thread describing the findings. These are hormonal differences (particularly low cortisol levels in the Long COVID group during morning hours), immune differences (particularly differences in T cell and B cells for people with Long COVID), and evidence of a coronavirus infection re-activating other viruses that might have already been present in people with Long COVID.

    While other research has pointed at these Long COVID markers before, the new study goes further in connecting a Long COVID diagnosis to specific medical tests. If backed up by further research, those tests could be used as biomarkers, informing clinical trials of Long COVID treatments. Notably, as Iwasaki pointed out in a statement, the tests done in this study would not be included in a patient’s “routine lab work,” signifying the higher level of inquiry needed to understand this condition.

    Long COVID is incredibly complex and may have different causes from one person to another. So, any biomarkers (from this study or another one) likely would not be universal points of success for all patients. This study also isn’t “proof that Long COVID is real,” as you might have seen some headlines suggest; we’ve had plenty of proof for years now, from prior research and patient experiences. Still, the study is a major step forward in identifying key tests that may be used for diagnosis and treatment.

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  • Sources and updates, October 1

    • CDC publishes Long COVID data from national survey: Every year, the CDC conducts the National Health Interview Survey, a detailed look at population health in the U.S. through interviews of about 30,000 adults and 9,000 children. In 2022, the survey included questions about Long COVID, defining the condition as symptoms for at least three months after an initial COVID-19 case. This week, the CDC published data from the 2022 survey. Among the findings: about 6.9% of adults had ever experienced Long COVID, and 3.4% had it at the time of their interview. These figures were 1.3% and 0.5% for children, respectively. Women were more likely to experience it than men, and the survey identified other demographic differences (race, income, etc.). While many of the findings align with other Long COVID data, this CDC survey is unique in providing data on Long COVID in kids—which can be devastating for the small (yet significant) number of people impacted.
    • Molnupiravir could lead to new coronavirus mutations: A new study, posted in Nature this week ahead of its final publication, identifies potential dangers of using the antiviral molnupiravir. (Molnupiravir, made by Merck, is a similar drug to Paxlovid but tends to be less effective, so it’s not used as widely.) For this study, researchers at the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, and colleagues examined coronavirus sequence data and found that certain mutations were likely to increase after molnupiravir use. Researchers have already known that this antiviral could lead to more viral evolution, but the paper provides more details on specific mutation risks; further research may examine the drug’s implications for immunocompromised patients.
    • Accessibility issues for COVID-19 websites: Many state and territorial COVID-19 websites don’t meet accessibility guidelines, making their key health information difficult for people who are blind or visually impaired to access, according to researchers at North Carolina State University. The researchers recently replicated a study that they’d first done in 2021, running checks on state sites against standard web accessibility guidance. “In 2021, none of these public-facing COVID-19 sites met all the checked WCAG guidelines, and things did not get any better in 2023,” study author Dylan Hewitt said in a statement. Issues include incompatibility with screen readers, limited color contrast, and no alt text for images.
    • Polling data indicate higher interest in flu shots than COVID-19 shots: The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) has published a new round of polling data from its COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor, focusing on vaccinations this fall. About 58% of adults in the poll said they would get a flu shot this year, compared to 47% who said they would get an updated COVID-19 shot. Vaccine interest continues to be partisan, the poll suggested, with Democrats much more likely to express confidence in the updated COVID-19 vaccines’ safety than Republicans. Democrats were also more likely to respond to increased COVID-19 spread, with 58% of those polled saying they recently took more precautions in response to the surge this summer.
    • New behavioral health survey data from the CDC: One more CDC update from this week: the agency has just published 2022 data from its Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). The BRFSS involves interviews of more than 400,000 adults each year, including questions about alcohol use, tobacco use, immunizations, cancer screenings, mental health, and more. While the data aren’t directly related to COVID-19, this surveillance system may be a valuable source for reporters or researchers seeking contextual data about health behaviors in a particular state, city, or county.