CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) -- With an uptick in COVID hospitalizations, Dr. Bill Petri with the University of Virginia Health System shares how to fight against the triple threat viruses this fall and winter.

“Potentially, you could be getting three vaccines this fall. We’ve always gotten the flu vaccine in the fall but there will be a new COVID booster, and now an RSV vaccine,” he said.

Petri says this new COVID booster is coming at a good time.

“COVID hospitalizations are up about 20 percent in the last week or so and they’ve been on the uptick for about the last month or so,” he said.

He says the new variant is responsible, “Everything we’ve been seeing is omicron for like the last almost two years but this new one is called EG.5, and it sort of replacing the last one which was called XBB.” 

Petri says if you’re due to get a booster, don’t wait. He says to go ahead and get your booster now.

“If you’re 65 and older, you’re eligible to get a second dose of the old booster. Whereas everyone under 65 should get like one dose of that booster,” he said.

For the first time this RSV season, adults can get vaccinated.

“This is huge. Since 1962, people have been trying to make a vaccine against RSV, and so this is like a huge thing now that we can protect the elderly,” Petri added.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also released new vaccine guidelines for the flu.

Some flu vaccines are created using eggs but the CDC says anyone with an egg allergy can now get the vaccine.

“What the CDC has done now is a careful study of giving the flu vaccine to people with or without egg allergies, and there was no increase in allergic reactions in people who have an egg allergy,” Petri said.

He warns if you’ve had any reaction to the flu vaccine, don’t get it.

Flu and RSV seasons are typically around the same time of the year, starting in December and ending around March.