I forgot to add how to prepare. First, be proactive and prioritize getting these vaccines from your doctor, if available. You may need to pay out of pocket as insurance may not cover it. Second, stay informed about circulating diseases. A lot of local state health departments still monitor and will have a good picture of what is happening. Follow their official communications. These entities are underfunded to begin with, but in reality this is where most of the boots on the ground public health work happens. CDC has traditionally been more of an advisory role. They rely on state/local public health for data and most interventions. Local public health workers aren’t going to intentionally give bad info as most are principled and care for their communities. Follow NYC public health communications especially as they are good at detecting disease and usually communicable diseases will first appear in large cities like what happened with Covid. They have a robust detection system. And third, become proactive in your preparations. Preppers learned a lot during Covid. Be able to pivot those efforts based on the risk circulating. If mosquito-borne, be prepared to purchase netting, change outdoor behavior, control mosquitos, etc. If respiratory, avoid crowds to lower risk. Wear masks, etc. and fourth- rely on evidence-based findings and trust real scientists for information.

If we all do our best and act in accordance with evidence-based practices, we as a whole, can offset to some degree the worst of the worst.