Millions of kindergarteners across the country are entering classrooms for the first time, five years after a pandemic that transformed their early childhoods overnight.

WHO, AMA, AAP and existing standards recommend that people who have never received a COVID-19 vaccine, are age 65 and older, are immunocompromised, live at a long-term care facility, are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to get pregnant, and/or want to avoid getting long COVID-19, should get the vaccine, especially.

The XFG strain, nicknamed “Stratus,” is the predominant variant currently circulating. It has been on the rise since May in the United States and comprised 65% of variants in circulation as of Aug. 9, according to the CDC.

Millions of kindergarteners across the country are entering classrooms for the first time, five years after a pandemic that transformed their early childhoods overnight.

When you contract the flu or COVID, your body releases inflammatory cytokines that help fight the pathogen and heal damaged tissue. According to the Cleveland Clinic, cytokines also tell immune cells where to go so they can attack and clear out an infection.