July 2022 — MHCE Newsletter

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12 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us JULY 2022 EDITION TO ADVERTISE contact kyle.stephens@mhce.us
WWW.MHCE.US Monthly Newsletter | 13 much, much, much closer to seasonal flu than it was when it emerged.” Aren’t hospital cases rising? Yes, admissions are up 41 per cent in the last week. And among the elderly and vulnerable, Covid can still be deadly, particularly for the one in six people in this group who have not taken up the offer of a spring booster. VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT MHCE.US There have also been a number of outbreaks in care homes. But it is worth pointing out that of the 6,400 patients in hospital with the virus, only 37 per cent were admitted for Covid. The rest are “incidental” cases — those who arrived in hospital for something else but then tested positive for the virus. There has been no significant increase in the number of Covid patients in intensive care wards. And deaths are down to between 40 and 50 a day, compared with 1,200 at the January 2021 peak. What is driving the wave? Two new variants have emerged, each slightly different mutations of the Omicron strain that has dominated in the UK since December. The new variants — BA.4 and BA.5 — make up 61 per cent of cases. Eventually BA.5, which is growing 35 per cent faster than the previously dominant Omicron BA.2, is expected to make up all cases. The new variants are more transmissible than previous strains, though it is not clear whether that is because they are inherently more infectious or because they are better at evading our immunity. When will we get the next jab? The spring booster programme for vulnerable people and over-75s is still running. The autumn booster programme will start in September and is likely to include over-65s and vulnerable people, although government advisers are weighing up whether to extend this to over-50s. Younger people are unlikely to be eligible. By September Moderna’s new vaccine — a “bivalent” jab that contains the original vaccine as well as a new formula tweaked to tackle the new variants — should be available. Moderna said its new vaccine boosts protection against BA.4 and BA.5 to far higher levels than existing vaccines and should give a longer-lasting response. Under the UK’s contract with Moderna, we will automatically receive the newest version of the vaccine. Last night Pfizer
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July 2022 — MHCE Newsletter

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