ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — With the holiday season approaching and friends and family gathering to celebrate, your risk of catching COVID or the flu goes way up. Epidemiologists warn that both viruses are deadly, especially for older adults.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 80% of seasonal flu-related deaths occur in older adults, and up to 70% of flu hospitalizations happen among adults 65 years and older.
Millie Reynolds knows about the dangers of catching COVID firsthand.
“I caught COVID before they even knew what it was, and it was new," said Reynolds. "And there was no vaccine, no nothing for it.”
Reynolds said she went in for a typical checkup in December 2020, but when she left, her doctor called and said she needed to go to a hospital immediately because she had contracted COVID.
“I remember being sat in a wheelchair, rolled down the walkway into the hospital and up to the desk, and I don’t remember anything from the middle of December to the middle of March,” said Reynolds.
Reynolds’ declining health also impacted her husband, Richard Breedlove.
“It was upsetting,” said Breedlove. “Because I love her a lot, and we get along really well. So, it was one of them trying times of my life that I had to go through.”
“About 90% of the deaths during this year, alone, are among those 65 and over,” said Kathleen Cameron with the National Council on Aging. Cameron said older adults are more vulnerable because many have chronic health conditions and deteriorated immune systems.
“The good news is that the cost associated with the vaccines have been eliminated through a law that was passed last year,” said Cameron. That law she’s referring to is President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
The National Council on Aging is helping 150 senior centers across the United States provide updated COVID and flu vaccines. The idea is to make the potentially lifesaving vaccines more accessible to diverse and hard-to-reach populations of older adults.
“We have seen an uptick in Covid here,” said Sally Marvin with the Sunshine Center about the older adults who attend there.
The Sunshine Center in St. Petersburg is one of the senior centers benefitting from some of that funding from the National Council on Aging.
“We’re partnering with Walgreens in order to help us get the shots out there for our people. So, we’ll be having them here to administer some of the shots,” said Marvin.
As for Reynolds, she just wants to live her life to the fullest with her friends and husband, which is why she’s doing everything she can to protect her health.
“I have gotten every booster that needed to be done,” said Reynolds.
And this message to her peers on why they should get vaccinated against COVID and the flu. “And not only themselves, but for other people because if they get it, they can give it to anybody else,” said Reynolds.