(Radio Iowa) – Vaccination rates in Iowa for both the flu and COVID-19 are lagging behind recent years, and health professionals are referring to the trend as “vaccine fatigue,” as some people would like to forget the whole pandemic happened. Infection preventionist Megan Meller, with Gundersen Health System, says when the COVID vaccine was first released, people in so-called “essential” jobs got first dibs, there were waiting lists, and long lines of socially-distanced people clamoring to get the shot.

“But since then, we’ve really seen a decrease in overall vaccination rates,” Meller says. “This is not just like influenza and COVID vaccines, but in a lot of other vaccines as well. I think a lot of that is playing into what we’re seeing this year in terms of people not opting to get the flu shot, and the same with the COVID vaccine.” Many of us have heard of instances where someone who was vaccinated got sick anyway, which can be a deterrent to others. Meller says vaccines are -not- meant to prevent illness, but rather to prevent -serious- illness.

“One of the reasons why it’s important to get the COVID shot, and it’s just like the flu shot, is that the goal of those vaccines is really to reduce hospitalizations,” Meller says. “If someone’s hospitalized because of that respiratory infection, that means they’re really, really sick, and the vaccines, sure, you can still come down with COVID or the flu, but you’re going to recover a lot faster.” The flu and COVID shots have been available for months, yet some people are holding off. Meller says it’s never too late to get vaccinated, noting, even if you’ve been sick, you can get the shot after you recover to be inoculated against -other- strains.

“We’ve seen with the flu where previously healthy people get the flu and then end up needing hospitalization,” Meller says. “This is where, again, I just always say, ‘Would you rather be sick for a day or two and bounce back really fast or be down for the count for a week?'” A recent report found about 45-percent of Iowa nursing home residents and just eight-percent of staff members are up-to-date on their COVID vaccines. A year or two ago, those rates would have been much closer to 100-percent.

“There was such a big push to getting the vaccine and trying to get it every year that people are just kind of exhausted and they would like to forget,” Meller says. “We just have to gently remind them that COVID is here to stay and these vaccines, they really are important.”

While Iowa’s numbers for nursing home residents getting vaccinated for COVID are low at 45-percent, a C-D-C report shows the national average is only 27-percent. State health officials say the number of new COVID cases in the general population is on the rise. The Gundersen Health System includes a hospital in West Union, and clinics in Fayette, Decorah, Waukon, Lansing, Postville and Calmar.