Over the last year, the CDC and FDA have incrementally moved, from a regulatory perspective, to conflate the most common respiratory viruses into a single approval, reporting and surveillance framework. This effort began with the approval of the bivalent booster and the removal from the market of the original c. 2021 vaccines. FDA has also adopted a similar attitude toward clinical data, relying mostly on animal evidence and tailoring the shots to known or expected variants.
As part of downgrading the SARS-CoV-2 virus to an annually circulating event much like the flu, the CDC launch a new surveillance dashboard, known as Resp-Net. Resp-Net provides surveillance data on Covid, the flu, and RSV, so helpful if you are following the RSV launch.
The most important question to be answered this season is whether the increasing public rejection of PFE and MRNA's Covid vaccines will spill over to flu and RSV. Reuters reported on Friday that about 1.8M of the recently approved boosters had been administered. Our model, which estimates maximum uptake of 8%, suggests about 2.1M shots. The IQV data on which Friday's estimate is based does exclude certain public health venues like Federally Qualified Health Centers and others that might account for the discrepancy.
Regardless, uptake has diminished relative to recent history. The lack of interest may be corrected by an increase in case which seems to drive uptake as much as the advertising campaigns over the last several years. This data set will be helpful for tracking the evolution of that demand, if any
Let me know what you think. Ready to discuss by phone!
Emily Evans
Managing Director – Health Policy
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