With fall officially underway, respiratory virus season begins as people start spending more time indoors. In addition to the annual new strain of influenza, COVID-19 continues to circulate worldwide, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) poses a threat, especially for young children and older adults—creating the perfect conditions for a potential “triple-demic.”
Effective, free and widely available vaccines are available for the flu, COVID and RSV. Michael S. Calderwood, MD, MPH, infectious disease physician and chief quality officer for Dartmouth Health’s Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, has produced a new video message on how individuals can protect themselves, their families and communities this respiratory virus season. Calderwood has been a trusted voice on the topic of infectious disease in northern New England, especially since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic.
*This video content is cleared for use by media outlets on all digital and broadcast platforms, with credit to Dartmouth Health.
For more information on what vaccines will be available and when, visit vaccines.gov. Commercial pharmacies throughout the region are also carrying and currently administering all three vaccines.
About Dartmouth Health
Dartmouth Health, New Hampshire’s only academic health system and largest private employer, serves patients across New England. Dartmouth Health provides access to more than 2,300 providers in nearly every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH. Its network of hospitals, outpatient centers, clinics and home care facilities, spans a broad geographical area. Year after year, DHMC is named the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report, and is consistently recognized for high performance in numerous clinical specialties and procedures. Dartmouth Health includes Dartmouth Cancer Center, northern New England’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers and one of less than than 60 total nationally; Dartmouth Health Children’s, which includes the state’s only children’s hospital (Children’s Hospital at DHMC/CHaD) and more than 20 locations around the region; eight member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene, Claremont, Hampstead, and New London, NH, and Windsor and Bennington, VT; Dartmouth Health Home Care; Dartmouth Health Connected Care Center for Telehealth, serving patients as far away as Texas; and more than 30 primary and multi-specialty clinics across New Hampshire and Vermont. Through its partnership with Dartmouth College, Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine and the White River Junction VA Medical Center, Dartmouth Health trains nearly 400 medical residents and fellows annually and performs cutting-edge research and clinical trials with international impact. Dartmouth Health and its more than 16,000 employees are committed to serving the healthcare needs of everyone in the communities it serves and to providing every patient with exceptional, state-of-the-art, personalized care. Learn more at dartmouth-health.org.