New COVID vaccines available now in Ohio: What to know as fall approaches

Though with record temps this past week calling autumn's arrival into question, fall is approaching — which means so are respiratory illnesses.

Kids are also going back to school, meaning more time spent indoors for students to make friends, but also make plenty of germs to bring home and spread around.

The good news is that even as cases rise and will likely continue to, new as well as tried and true vaccines are available to target COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.

Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, director of the Ohio Department of Health, urged Ohioans at a Thursday press conference to stock up on at-home test kits and adhere to the Centers of Disease Control and Preventions' (CDC) guidelines to keep themselves and others safe this season.

But still, the best thing to do is to get vaccinated.

More: COVID, RSV, flu: Here are all the vaccines recommended for you this year

With a new variant dominating, should you still get the latest COVID-19 vaccine?

After the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approved the latest round of COVID-19 vaccines last week, Ohio residents can now receive said vaccine and their flu shot at pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens, either by scheduling an appointment or on a walk-in basis.

But the new COVID-19 shots are designed to target the KP.2 variant, which is not the dominant variant right now in the United States or in Ohio. That title is held by the KP.3 and subvariant KP.3.1.1 , leaving some questioning whether or not to get the vaccine at all.

More: COVID-19 cases on the rise: What to know about vaccines the FDA approved, latest CDC data

Since the variants all stem from the Omicron strain, Vanderhoff emphasized that these members of the Omicron family have very similar mutations.

"We have very good reason to believe that there's tremendous overlap in terms of the benefit that this vaccine offers to our immune system in essentially giving it an update on what it should be looking for and ready to respond to," the director said.

Concerning other respiratory illnesses, RSV vaccines aren't needed every year, so if you got one last year, you won't need one this year. But for those over 75, over 60 with underlying medical conditions and infants, the CDC urges you get one, especially with how prevalent and severe RSV can be among young children.

"Too many young children and are hospitalized and very sick at the start of their lives due to RSV. Vaccines can help prevent that," Vanderhoff said.

The CDC also recommends getting an annual flu shot for those 6 months and older.

Less severe, more transmissible, still a problem

In Thursday's event, Vanderhoff acknowledged that COVID-19 cases are rapidly spiking in the state, nearly tripling since he last addressed the virus to the public. The numbers still, however, are still below the "remarkable" numbers of previous years, such as the nearly 500,000 cases in January 2022.

The latest variants circulating the United States might be less severe than previous strains, but they are evolving to become more transmissible, Vanderhoff said.

More: Gov. Mike DeWine tests positive for COVID again as Ohio sees uptick in cases

"The fact that the virus is more transmissible really should be something that we take seriously," he cautioned, noting that there's currently an average of about 200 hospitalizations and 17 deaths in Ohio over the last three weeks.

"These numbers are a stark reminder that if you spread the virus to a family member or friend who's in a high risk category, such as someone over 65 or those who have impaired immunity, COVID-19 infection could be a very serious threat to their health."

Samantha Hendrickson is The Dispatch's medical business and health care reporter. She can be reached at shendrickson@dispatch.com .

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: New COVID vaccines available now in Ohio: What to know as fall approaches