Young people hospitalized for variant of covid-19 increase 2:49
(CNN) -
Young adults are now steering the course of this pandemic as the biggest spreaders of the coronavirus.
But many say they don't plan to get vaccinated, which has bigger consequences than they think.
"We really need to vaccinate people ages 20 to 49 because they are the ones driving the pandemic right now," said Dr. Carlos del Rio, executive associate dean of the Emory University School of Medicine.
However, about 36% of young adults under the age of 35 say they do not plan to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a recent Quinnipiac University survey.
That is a major problem because:
Even if life begins to look more normal, the US will never achieve herd immunity if young adults don't step up it.
Health experts say we need to immunize at least 70% to 85% of the US population to achieve herd immunity and control this pandemic.
More young people are suffering from "long covid".
Even healthy athletes have succumbed to long-term mental confusion, chest pains, and shortness of breath.
By not getting vaccinated, young adults could make vaccines less effective for their friends, family, and everyone else.
(More on that later).
Here are the top 10 reasons why healthy young adults should get vaccinated as soon as possible:
'Covid-19 does not have to kill you to ruin your life'
"Even for young people who consider their risk for severe covid to be low, the long-term consequences can be quite dire," said Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health.
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"Long covid represents one more reason to encourage everyone over 16 to get vaccinated as soon as possible."
While young adults are less likely than older adults to die from COVID-19, at least 2,374 people under the age of 30 have died from COVID-19.
A much more likely outcome for young adults is long-term complications, said Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency physician and director of the Brown-Lifespan Center for Digital Health.
"I can't tell you how many people I have seen in the emergency room, who are in their 20s, 30s and 40s, who are never sick enough to end up in the emergency room with covid, but now have long-lasting breathing difficulties," Ranney said.
“Or they have a persistent loss of taste and smell, and they are losing weight because they don't like to eat.
Or they have that kind of brain fog that we hear with long covid, "he said.
Some young people in the US hesitate to get vaccinated against covid-19 and that is a problem for all Americans
"I think there is this false sense of 'I'm immune to that just because I'm young' and that 'Even if I catch it, I'll be fine.'
You may be lucky.
And that may be true, that if you catch it, you'll be fine.
But there is also the possibility that not.
Some long-lasting symptoms in young people have lasted for a year, "debilitating symptoms that have occurred as a result of coronavirus infection," said Dr. Jonathan Reiner, professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University.
"So what I would say to young people is that COVID-19 doesn't have to kill you to ruin your life."
A strong and healthy immune system can backfire
Some young, previously healthy patients have suffered from COVID-19 cytokine storms.
That's basically when an immune system overreacts, which can lead to severe inflammation or other serious symptoms.
“We have certainly seen people who enter our hospital, very young people (in their early 20s)… they need to undergo ECMO, which is basically a heart-lung machine, for days or even weeks because they come with cardiomyopathy, which is a response to a cytokine storm, ”Reiner said.
When young, healthy people succumb to COVID-19, cytokine storms are often a factor, said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Center for Vaccine Education at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
And that was really the story of the 1918 pandemic, the flu pandemic.
We had a U-shaped curve. It was the young and the old who died for different reasons, ”he said.
"But the reason the youngsters died was because they had a vigorous immune response, the so-called cytokine storm, where their body produces immune proteins that actually cause harm."
Myths about the covid-19 vaccine: these reasons for not getting the vaccine don't hold up
If young people don't get vaccinated, it could leave everyone vulnerable
The more the coronavirus spreads, the more it mutates.
And if the mutations are significant, they could lead to new strains that cannot be fought with current vaccines.
And that would set the country back in this pandemic.
The B.1.351 and P.1 variants "have now begun to escape immunity" from vaccines and previous infection, Offit said.
"They are not escaping completely, but they have started to escape," he said.
"They are warning shots."
While vaccines still work against those strains and the highly contagious B.1.1.7 strain, "there may be future variants that we're not so lucky about," Ranney said.
So the key to ending this pandemic is not just getting vaccinated.
It is getting vaccinated as soon as possible, before the virus mutates into new strains that cannot be controlled with current vaccines.
Are young people getting sicker?
Are vaccinated people getting infected?
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Getting vaccinated will help the economy
Many restaurants, bars, cinemas and sports venues are not open at full capacity, either because the number of COVID-19 cases is still too high or because not enough people have been vaccinated.
By getting vaccinated, young people can help more businesses fully reopen safely by increasing safety and reducing infections.
That would also help young employees who have been hit hard financially.
"It is important to vaccinate as many adults as possible as soon as possible," Los Angeles internal medicine specialist Dr. Jorge Rodríguez told CNN.
"If you want to open the United States, get vaccinated."
Some companies have offered incentives for anyone who shows proof of vaccination, including free burgers, donuts, and beer.
And some states, including Pennsylvania and Kentucky, have tied the reduction in covid-19 restrictions directly to vaccination rates.
Vaccines can save people a lot of money
Covid-19 could be very expensive.
Medical bills.
Lost business days.
And the possibility of more visits to the doctor if you have long covid.
The cost of a covid-19 vaccine?
"Everything is free," said Offit.
"The government is paying for this."
Doctors say they cannot understand why so many people would reject a safe, effective, and free vaccine and instead risk medical expenses and lose income.
"If you contract the virus and are out of work for weeks or months, how do you pay your bills?" Reiner said.
ANALYSIS |
The US may never achieve herd immunity, but it may not be necessary
Getting vaccinated can improve your appointments
For those on the dating scene, "getting vaccinated or being willing to do it is the best thing to do," said Michael Kaye, spokesman for the OKCupid dating site.
He said users who answered "yes" to the standard profile question "Will you get the covid-19 vaccine?"
have received "likes" up to 25% more than those who answered "no" or chose not to answer.
Vaccines play a bigger role on Tinder, too.
In just three months, the dating app saw a 258% increase in profile mentions of the word "vaccine," spokeswoman Dana Balch said.
Young people (or their friends) may be at higher risk than they think
About one-third of young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 are at risk for severe COVID-19, according to the
Journal of Adolescent Health.
And more than 40% of all US adults have at least one underlying condition that can put them at higher risk for serious complications, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Those conditions include asthma, diabetes, heart disease, obesity or being overweight, substance use disorder, and a history of smoking.
"Obesity is a major risk factor for adverse outcomes after infection," according to a study published in
The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.
As a person's body mass index (or BMI) increases, so does their risk for severe COVID-19, and this risk "is particularly notable" in adults under 40, according to the study based on the UK.
"Overweight people, even without other comorbidities, are at substantially higher risk of hospitalization and ICU and death due to COVID-19, especially for younger adults and blacks," the researchers wrote.
And young people ages 13 to 24 who used e-cigarettes were five times more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19, according to a study published in the
Journal of Adolescent Health.
A new strain is spreading rampant
PAHO alerts that more young people are dying of covid-19 0:32
Unlike the parent strain of the new coronavirus, the highly contagious variant B.1.1.7 is hitting young people particularly hard.
It is now the most dominant strain of coronavirus in the US, spreading through all 50 states.
"The B.1.1.7 variant has mutations that allow it to bind more" to cells, Reiner said.
In other words: "You can be in one place and maybe have a shorter exposure or have a smaller exposure, a more casual exposure, and then get infected."
That's a big problem for young adults, who are more likely to socialize without being vaccinated.
And it is difficult to know who may be infected.
People can transmit the coronavirus days before symptoms appear, simply by talking or breathing.
The entire United States needs the help of young adults to stay safe
Refusing the covid-19 vaccine can affect many people, from individuals to their loved ones and the country as a whole.
"First of all, vaccines are not 100% effective," Offit said.
So even if someone's friends and family are vaccinated, but the person is not vaccinated, there is still some risk that they could carry and transmit the virus to their loved ones.
And as Americans return to crowded bars, concerts, sporting events, and movie theaters, the need for widespread vaccination becomes even more important.
Second, it is a mistake to think that everyone who wants a vaccine can get it.
'Some people receive chemotherapy for cancer.
They cannot be vaccinated, they depend on the herd to protect them, ”said Offit.
Many of the most vulnerable count on their fellow Americans to get vaccinated.
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It is essential to protect children
At this time, vaccines are not available for those under 16 years of age.
But children are still at risk of contracting and spreading the coronavirus, including the B.1.1.7 strain.
And about 11% to 15% of children with coronavirus develop long-term covid, said Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health.
So for anyone who has or interacts with a child, get vaccinated, doctors say.
It is also especially important as cases of MIS-C, or multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children, are increasing.
MIS-C is a condition that occurs when "the virus induces your body to produce an immune response against its own blood vessels," Offit said.
That can cause inflammation of the blood vessels.
FDA to Authorize Pfizer's Covid-19 Vaccine for Children Ages 12 to 15 Next Week, Official Says
Children with MIS-C often had coronavirus but only mild symptoms or no symptoms.
“Usually children are incidentally identified as having (covid-19).
Someone in the family was infected, a friend was infected, so they took a PCR test.
And they were positive… So they are fine, ”said Offit.
“Then a month passes, and they develop a high fever.
And evidence of damage (problems) to the lungs, liver, kidneys, or heart.
That's when they come to our hospital… They have an antibody response to the virus, ”he said.
For both parents and young adults, "You can't believe it's going to happen to you until it happens to you," Offit said.
"I work in a hospital and I can tell you that there are many people who cannot believe what just happened to them or their children."
He said he had a message for young, healthy people who think they don't need a vaccine:
You are not invulnerable.
I know that when you are young, you feel invulnerable.
But you're not".
CNN's Matt Villano, Jacqueline Howard, and Naomi Thomas contributed to this report.
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