Health officials recommend residents get vaccinated as RSV, flu hospitalizations up
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- As the holidays approach, respiratory diseases are not far behind.
"Our number of hospitalizations has increased scientifically and doubled over the week for both RSV and flu," Respiratory Disease Epidemiologist for the Wisconsin Department of Health Tom Haupt said. "We've had 60 hospitalizations for influenza, that compares to about 35 for the previous week."
According to Haupt, the Respiratory Syacytial Virus (RSV) has hit Wisconsin and the Midwest hard.
"As far as RSV hospitalizations, we are over 100 cases and are only about 15 days into the season where we are monitoring it," he said.
Nationwide, the vaccine to prevent RSV in infants, Nirsevimab, is limited.
"It's very frustrating for us. We were hoping by now to have higher numbers for children that had shots for Nirsevimab, but that's not going to happen," Haupt said.
On Thursday Nov. 16, the CDC announced the release of more than 77,000 doses of Nirsevimab, but it is not enough for the millions of children waiting for a shot.
"We do know for a fact that some of the providers, even the large providers of pediatrics, are getting very small doses, sometimes less than five. That doesn't go very far," Haupt explained.
However, pregnant people between 32 and 36 weeks of gestation have a separate vaccine option to fight RSV.
"That will give maternal child antibodies to the baby once the baby is born for up to six months," Haupt said.
Meanwhile, health providers are asking community members to get their flu and COVID shots now, as current numbers are lower than normal.
"It's not too late to get those vaccines at this particular point," Haupt said. "You can never have enough people being vaccinated, to be honest with you."
Since RSV vaccines are so limited, infants with a high risk of infection are being prioritized. There is also an RSV vaccine for people over the age of 60 that doctors recommend people get along with the flu and COVID vaccines.