Free Covid tests, treatment will return to help the country cope with autumn and winter, US officials announce | CNN

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As much of the US continues to experience very high levels of Covid-19 activity, government officials announced on Friday the return of programs to provide free testing, vaccinations and treatment to the public. during the winter season of the respiratory virus.

“The best plan going into this winter is for everyone to stay alert, use the tools we have: vaccines, testing, treatment against the diseases responsible for most of the fall deaths. and winter and hospitals,” Dr. Mandy Cohen, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Friday.

Free Covid tests will not be available immediately but will return in time for the autumn and winter meetings. A government-sponsored supply of the antiviral drug Paxlovid will also be available at no cost to people who are uninsured or who use Medicare or Medicaid.

The CDC is giving health and state departments more money to provide free Covid vaccines for uninsured and uninsured adults, and free vaccines will continue to be available to children from to low-income families through the government’s Vaccines for Children program.

“We cannot forget that every age group is at risk, including our young children,” Cohen said.

He noted that the highest number of emergency visits for Covid during the summer were children under 5 years old.

Looking ahead to winter, CDC forecasters predict that the US will see the same or fewer hospitalizations for respiratory illnesses as it did at the same time last year.

Cohen said the forecast could change if a lower-than-expected number of people get vaccinated or if there is another strain of Covid-19 or the flu that causes more severe disease than expected.

Vaccinations for Covid, flu and RSV

Improved Covid-19 vaccines that protect against different circulating strains were approved by the US Food and Drug Administration on Thursday, amid what appears to be the peak of a summer wave of infections.

Those shots are expected to be in pharmacies within weeks, along with updated flu shots. It’s best to get both at the same time, Cohen said.

“I can tell you that I already have my time,” said Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

Marks stressed the importance of vaccinations for preventing severe outcomes from Covid, including prolonged Covid.

“The only way to get long-term Covid is to have Covid,” Marks said. And vaccines can help prevent Covid.

Although the federal government’s Bridge Access program has ended, Cohen said the CDC will allocate $62 million to state and local agencies to provide free Covid-19 vaccines to adults who otherwise would not. they can afford them.

He said: “I encourage people to reach out to their local health departments, their health departments, but also their qualified health centers. Adults with private and public insurance such as Medicare and Medicaid continue to receive Covid vaccines without co-payment.

Vaccines against respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, which hospitalizes and kills infants and the elderly every year, will also be available.

RSV vaccines are recommended for infants younger than 8 months and entering their first RSV season, for adults 75 years of age or older and for those 60 years of age or older with conditions health or nursing home residents. Some children who are younger than 20 months and are at high risk of severe disease may also need a second shot.

Unlike flu and Covid vaccines, RSV vaccines are not expected to be needed every year. That’s because protection from RSV shots seems to last for more than one season. If you got one of the new RSV vaccines last year, the CDC says, you don’t need one this fall.

Beginning in late September, the state will open its own Covidtests.gov website. Each family can order four free home assessments, which will be delivered by mail.

This will be the seventh distribution of free Covid tests, a popular program that has sent more than 900 million tests since 2021, said Dawn O’Connell, assistant secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services for design and response.

Some free tests will be available in public places such as libraries, food banks and long-term care facilities.

“Getting a quick test is a great way for all of us to keep our friends, family and loved ones safe as we gather to celebrate the holidays.” O’Connell said.

O’Connell said the government’s Paxcess program, run by drugmaker Pfizer, will continue to distribute free Paxlovid until the end of the year to people diagnosed with Covid-19 who are uninsured or on Medicare or Medicaid.

Pfizer will take over the program starting in 2025 and continue to provide government-sponsored Paxlovid to people who are uninsured or uninsured, O’Connell said.

Drug maker Merck is also running a patient assistance program to help people get their Covid-19 antiviral drug, Lagevrio.