Most nursing home residents haven't had omicron booster ahead of expected winter Covid wave

Key Facts

• "We are working very closely with leadership of nursing homes across America, and we have asked them to step up to do more," Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House Covid taskforce leader, told reporters during a press briefing Thursday.
• Nearly 161,000 nursing home residents have died from Covid since the pandemic began, according to data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
• Jha has said most people who are dying from Covid right now are seniors who are not up to date on their vaccines and are not receiving treatments such as the antiviral Paxlovid when they have a breakthrough infection.
• CNBC HEALTH & SCIENCE Read CNBC's latest global health coverage: Most nursing home residents haven't had omicron booster ahead of expected winter Covid wave Growing obesity crisis in U.S. prompts CDC to expand body mass index charts for severely overweight kids Biden administration makes at-home Covid tests available for free again this winter Omicron BQ, XBB subvariants are a serious threat to boosters and knock out antibody treatments, study finds Covid and flu hospitalizations are increasing across the U.S. while RSV is retreating in some states Children as young as 6 months old are now eligible for omicron Covid vaccines Omicron subvariants that more easily dodge immunity are causing more than 70% of U.S. infections House to vote on repeal of Pentagon's Covid vaccine mandate for U.S. troops Omicron boosters are weaker against BQ.1.1 subvariant that is rising in U.S., study finds CDC encourages people to wear masks to help prevent spread of Covid, flu and RSV over the holidays FDA pulls Covid antibody treatment because it’s not effective against dominant omicron variants Fauci says China has done a bad job vaccinating the elderly and their shots are not very effective against Covid CDC will test sewage for polio outside New York to see if it's circulating elsewhere in nation Drug overdose deaths among seniors have more than tripled in two decades

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