Skyline Happenings

CDC now recommends a second dose of the 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine for two groups:

• People 65 years and older and
• Everyone 6 months and older who are moderately or severely immunocompromised

The second dose of the 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine is recommended six months after the first dose. These groups remain at higher risk of severe COVID-19, and these updated recommendations help maximize their protection year-round. Data continue to confirm the importance of vaccination to protect those most at risk for severe outcomes of COVID-19. Also, data on COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness indicate that protection against COVID-19-associated emergency department and urgent care visits and hospitalization likely wanes by four to six months after vaccination. Fortunately, protection from admission to the intensive care unit, a sign of critical illness, lasts longer.

Additionally, data show that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, continues to circulate year-round, with peaks typically occurring in the winter and late summer.

CDC previously recommended that people who are moderately or severely immunocompromised may get additional doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, in consultation with a healthcare provider. Historically in years past, uptake of these additional doses for this group was low. ACIP voted to provide a clear recommendation for people who are six months or older and are moderately or severely immunocompromised to receive a second dose of 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine 6 months after their first dose.

These updated recommendations also allow for flexibility for additional doses (i.e., three or more) for people who are moderately or severely immunocompromised, in consultation with their healthcare provider (a strategy known as shared clinical decision making). These additional doses can be timed around immunosuppressive treatments, such as chemotherapy, after which some people may be at increased risk of severe COVID-19. These doses can also be timed around activities like travel or other life events, during which people may have increased risk of exposure to the virus that causes COVID-19.

Ed note: Virginia Mason has sent out this information which I found useful. Due to the Inflation Reduction Act, Medicare patients enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans or standalone Medicare Prescription Drug plans (PDP), are often showing significant changes in benefits and/or premiums in 2025. Please review the Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) letter sent to you. If you have questions, it’s best to go to the Medicare.gov web site or call 1-800-MEDICARE. Do it early on to avoid long wait times. The changes can be made between now and December 7th. I found it interesting that if you are involuntarily losing your Advantage Plan that you can return to Original Medicare and have no underwriting for a supplemental plan.

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“If you can’t stand on your leg for five seconds, you’re at risk of falls,” said Kenton Kaufman, the senior author of the Mayo Clinic study.

By Teddy Amenabar in the Washington Post (thanks to Tim and Tony)

How long you can stand on one leg — specifically, your nondominant leg — is a telltale sign of age-related decline, according to a study led by researchers at Mayo Clinic.

Researchers found that a person’s ability to balance on one leg deteriorated with age faster than measurements of walking gait, grip and knee strength. Participants, ages 52 to 83, were compared with each other in a cross-sectional study.

“If you have poor balance, you’re more likely to fall,” said Kenton Kaufman, the senior author of the study and a musculoskeletal research professor at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

The ability to balance on one leg is “an important predictor” of someone’s risk of falling, he said.

“If you can’t stand on your leg for five seconds, you’re at risk of falls,” Kaufman said. “If a person can stand on their leg for 30 seconds, they’re doing really well, especially if they’re older.”

More than 1 in 4 people ages 65 and older fall every year, according to the National Institute on Aging. It is a leading cause of injury and injury-related death for older adults.

On average, the study’s participants could stand on their nondominant leg for 17 seconds. Among participants older than 65, the average was 11 seconds.

(Abbey Lossing for The Washington Post)

The facts

• The researchers recruited 40 healthy men and women who live around Rochester. Half of the participants were 50 to 65 years old; the rest were older than 65.
• Participants completed a series of tests measuring their balance, walking gait, grip and knee strength. Researchers controlled the results for body size (weight and height) to determine if there were age-related changes.
• During balance tests, participants stood on a platform that measured how much they shifted their weight. They stood on both feet with eyes open, then eyes closed. Next they stood on their dominant leg, then their non-dominant leg with eyes open for up to 30 seconds.
• Researchers told participants to balance on one leg in whatever way they prefer. Results included how long they could stand on one foot and how much they shifted their weight.

The study published in PLOS One on Wednesday. (continued)