US children’s hospitals overwhelmed by RSV cases + Pfizer Vaccine Plans
Greetings to my esteemed friends on the InformationWar platform and the entire hive blockchain. It's another day and time to share with you happenings around the world and how it affects our health and that of our kids. It's your friend @faquan, saying hello from this part of the world.
In recent times, paediatric doctors and nurses in US hospitals have complained of an increase in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and enough facilities to cater for the increasing cases in their children's hospitals.
RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, is a common virus that spreads mainly through direct contact or coughing. It usually causes mild symptoms but can be dangerous for young children and elderly people.
Most nurses in the children's hospitals have said that RSV isn't new to them in the US, but the major challenge is the rate at which the number of cases increased this year. For instance, prior to this year, it use to be at about 50-60 percent, but this year's cases skyrocketed to 70%. The major challenge here is the limited beds to accommodate the patients in the hospital.
It should be noted that the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in the children's hospital have a bed space of about 20-24, which wasn't a problem in the past but now it poses a big issue for them in the hospitals across the US.
Sato, who has worked as a paediatric nurse for 12 years, said she has never seen such a high number of RSV cases, telling Al Jazeera that this year feels “exceptionally overwhelming”. Before the surge, her ICU was already under pressure due to staffing shortages. Nurses in the ICU can have a maximum of two patients, and while the unit physically has 24 beds, at times they have had to limit the number of filled beds to 20 because there aren’t enough staff.
This to me is a great issue that needs urgent attention in order to limit the cases of casualties and death. The government needs to do something in a quick succession to help savage the RSV surge.
It's so unfortunate for many Hospital administrators who do daily maths on whether to admit kids or adults in their hospitals. If they admit children, they'll make less money but if they admit adults, they make more money. This is so unfortunate for the hospitals who operate in low budget due to their capacity. Remember that making this maths is very risky for human health and survival. All these comes because of their facilities, so the government needs to increase the workforce in the hospitals to help cater for the increasing cases of health challenges in the hospitals, most especially in the children's hospital.
It should be noted that there's no vaccine in the US for RSV, but a proposal has been submitted by Pfizer pharmaceutical company to the US Food and Drug Administration and by the end of the year a vaccine will be out for use. The vaccine would be given to pregnant people who would then pass antibodies to their infants.
With the release of the vaccine to be administered to the public, most especially the pregnant woman, it'll help ease the rise of the virus in kids. Second, the government should provide more facilities in the children's hospitals across the country.
Thanks!