William Schaffner, MD

After the leaders of the NIH, FDA, and HHS made an announcement stating that both pregnant women and children were going to be taken off the COVID-19 immunization schedule, they decided to offer a new designation for the latter group, making it a shared decision between providers and patients.

A panel discusses how vaccine policy under new federal government policies, why misinformation has flourished and what individual providers can do to win back patient trust.

Final thoughts from experts on controlling COVID-19 and influenza.

Encouraging testing of symptomatic COVID-19 or influenza patients and utilization of available therapeutics.

The concept of the “immunization neighborhood” highlighting the importance of pharmacists in encouraging and administering vaccinations.

The importance of a rapid and accurate COVID-19 and influenza test.

The Status™ COVID-19/Flu A&B - Rapid SARS-CoV-2/Influenza A+B Antigen Panel Test: rapid testing for COVID-19, Flu A&B in one test.

Getting real time results when testing for COVID-19 and influenza.

Importance of properly diagnosing COVID-19 vs influenza to offer therapeutics.

Potential changes within office visits for COVID-19 and influenza.

Differentiating between COVID-19 and influenza.

Challenges in messaging as the understanding of COVID-19 evolves.

Several reasons patients are reluctant to getting the flu vaccine.

Promise of a dual COVID-19/influenza vaccine in development.

Slight variation in the flu vaccine from last season based on limited data.

A discussion on the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and the potential impact on the upcoming flu season.

Panel speculates on the upcoming flu season for 2021-2022.

Multiple factors contributing to a lower-than-average flu season in 2020-2021 are discussed.