Page 22 THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, OCTObER 10, 2025 Say nr Sa a y Senior Seni by Jim Miller What Seniors Need to Know About This Fall’s Vaccines Dear Savvy Senior, With a longtime vaccine critic leading the nation’s health departments, can you give me updated information on which vaccines are recommended for Medicare seniors this fall? Medicare Mary Dear Mary, Even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is undergoing major cultural changes and upheaval, the overall fall vaccine recommendations for “older adults” resembles last year, with exception of the Covid shot. Here’s what you should know. Flu Shots for Seniors Just as they normally do, the CDC recommends a seasonal fl u shot to everyone 6 months of age and older, but it’s especially important for older adults who have weaker immune defenses and have a greater risk of developing dangerous fl u complications compared with younger, healthy adults. For people age 65 and older, there are three diff erent FDA approved fl u vaccines (you only need one) that are recommended over traditional fl u shots. These include: the Fluzone High-Dose Quadrivalent, Flublok Quadrivalent (recombinant, egg free vaccine), and Fluad Quadrivalent. These vaccines are formulated to create a more robust immune response, helping the body produce more antibodies, which makes them more eff ective in preventing the fl u. All fl u vaccines are covered 100 percent by Medicare Part B as long as your doctor, health clinic or pharmacy agrees not to charge you more than Medicare pays. RSV Shots In addition to the fl u shot, the CDC also recommends a single-dose of RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) vaccine for all adults age 75 and older, as well as to highrisk adults between ages 50 and 74. These are people who have chronic heart or lung disease, weakened immune systems, diabetes with complications, severe obesity, or who live in long-term care facilities. RSV is responsible for 6,000 to 10,000 deaths and up to 150,000 hospitalizations each year. The three RSV vaccines approved and available in the U.S. – Arexvy, Abrysvo and mResvia – are all covered under Medicare (Part D) prescription drug plans. But note that if you got an RSV shot last year, or when it fi rst became available in 2023, you do not need to get a second dose this year. For now, only one dose of RSV vaccine is recommended. Covid Booster If you haven’t had a Covid booster shot lately, the Food and Drug Administration recently approved the 2025–2026 Covid-19 vaccine, which has been updated to target the dominant strain. This vaccine has been recommended for all adults 65 and older and younger people that have a health condition that makes them vulnerable to severe Covid. But the new, CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices just announced that they are no longer recommending Covid shots. Instead, they are recommending 65 and older adults and immunocompromised younger people should decide individually or with a doctor. Covid still causes at least 40,000 hospitalizations and approximately 47,000 deaths in the U.S. each year. Covid shots are covered by Medicare Part B. Pneumonia Vaccines If you haven’t been vaccinated for pneumonia, you should also consider getting the pneumococcal vaccine this fall. These vaccines are now recommended by the CDC to adults age 50 and older, instead of age 65, which was the previous recommendation. Pneumonia causes a whopping 1.2 million people to visit medical emergency departments in the U.S. each year and causes roughly 50,000 deaths. If you’ve never been vaccinated for pneumonia, the PCV20 (Prevnar 20) or PCV21 (Capvaxive) are the top choices because they cover the most common serotypes. Medicare Part B covers pneumococcal shots, and you only need to get it once. Side-Eff ects and Safety You should be aware that all these vaccines can cause mild side eff ects like pain or tenderness where you got the shot, muscle aches, headache, fever or fatigue. Also note that it’s safe to receive these vaccines at the same time, but it may be best to spread them out a week or two because multiple vaccinations on the same day may cause increased side-eff ects. Send your questions or comments to questions@savvysenior.org, or to Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070. nior ior SPORTS | FROM PAGE 19 host Chelsea on Oct. 7. They are now in the middle of having a week off , before getting back into action on Tuesday, Oct. 14, under the Manning Field lights against host Lynn English at 5:45 p.m. Volleyball team shows positive signs T he Tide volleyball team (210) has lost their last seven matches, but coach Mike Fineran says that they are still working hard to get back on track. “We have had our share of ups and downs all season long, and that was defi nitely true in last week’s matches against Malden and Chelsea,” Fineran said. “At times, we played very well like jumping out to a 16-4 lead against Chelsea and winning the third set against Malden. But then, we had lapses of four or fi ve points in a row, which was difficult to overcome. As a result, we ended up dropping both these matches by identical 3-1 scores.” Nicole Damaceno is the captain of this year’s team. Juliette Romboli and Amanda Verteiro are the assistant captains. “Damaceno has been our most reliable server all year long, hitting on 95% of her 133 serves,” said Fineran, “while Romboli leads the team in aces and kills, and Verteiro has been a steady defensive presence in the back row.” The Everett coach also mentioned that senior Shaeendra Hall (eight kills) and sophomore Elora Phillippe (nine kills) were among the team’s off ensive leaders against Chelsea. “We are naturally disappointed with our record, but we expected the competition in the GBL to be strong,” Fineran said. “Somerville and Revere are having solid seasons, while Malden and Lynn Classical are always strong. When our attackers are taking good swings, we hang in there, but when our passes or hits are off , other teams have taken advantage of it to pull away. “But we continue to battle, and our energy has been good all year. No matter the opponent or the score, I expect that we will continue to keep on fi ghting,” added the Everett coach. Their lone two wins this year came against Chelsea and Lynn English last month at the EHS gym. The Everett girls started off this week with a loss to Lynn Classical at home on Oct. 6. They then faced Lynn English on the road two days later after press deadline, before closing out the week at home on Friday, Oct. 10, against nonleague Lawrence, beginning at 5:15 p.m. Youthful golfers experience growing pains T he Everett High golfers (0-9) recently lost to Lynn Classical (33.5-11.5, Sept. 23), Medford (55-17, Sept. 30) and Malden (58-14, Oct. 6). “We are an inexperienced team this year that continues to battle hard, while learning the varsity game against our league peers,” said coach Dave Peach. Since then, the Tide took on Somerville (Oct. 7) and Lynn Classical (Oct. 9) at Stoneham Oaks to wrap up the regular season after press deadline. “In our matches against Lynn Classical and Medford, we played well, but their added years of experience ended up defeating us,” said Peach, “and basically the same thing happened against Malden. Other teams simply have more experience right now, but we are gaining traction, while continuing to improve.” Charles Govostes and Raymond Blauvelt are this year’s Tide captains. Everett boys stay on course to make history F or the fi rst time in at least 15 years, the Everett High School boys cross-country team (3-1) defeated Malden. The Oct. 1 victory also keeps them on pace for a winning record. “We showed a great deal of mental toughness running in our third meet in seven days,” said coach Brendan Hahesy after this history-making event. Senior captain Lucas Nunez (17:19) led the way by winning his fourth GBL meet in a row to help lead his teammates to victory over the Golden Tornadoes. Jeremy Whitlow (18:31, third), Anthony Whitlow (18:44, fourth), Christopher Portillo (19:10, fi fth) and Carlos Pagan (19:43, 10th) were right behind Nunez to collectively produce the upset win. Domenico Delle Rose (19:48, 12th), Wilmer Fuentes (19:53, 13th), Raakin Shrestha (20:23, 17th), Bryan Lewis (20:53, 18th), Anthoid Khanal (21:04, 20th), Dante Gell (22:12, 25th), Michael Lemus (22:46, 29th) and Brasesh Maharjan (24:51, 33rd) also participated in the boys race. In the girls meet that day, senior captain Akanksha Neupane came out on top for the fi rst time ever in her varsity career. After Neupane (22:33) broke the tape, Shashi Pokhrel (25:51, sixth) and Nathalia Cesario (27:23, eighth) followed her across the finish line to account for Top 10 performances.
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