Health providers roll out new round of COVID boosters

WASHINGTON — After the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved a new round of booster shots for COVID-19, local health care providers and government agencies are starting to administer the doses.

Henry County Immunization Director Robin Poole said the boosters were recommended for everyone in the age groups approved by the FDA for ages 12 and up using the Pfizer booster, or 18 and older using the Moderna booster.

“It’s a good idea for anybody who is able to get them,” she said. “They have to have completed a primary series … and if they got the other boosters, it has to be two months since that booster.”

Federal and local health officials have advised that the most effective time to get the new boosters is at least 2 months after the recipient’s last COVID-19 shot, booster dose, or infection.

Washington County Public Health Director Emily Tokheim said the new boosters are “bivalent” meaning they protect both against the COVID strands used to produced the original vaccines and boosters as well as the more recently problematic Omicron variant.

“It does include the original formula, those original ingredients from the vaccine … but it also includes additional ingredients of spike proteins for Omicron variants,” she said. “So it should provide additional protection against the Omicron variant.”

While previous shots have not been bivalent, Tokheim said the new round of boosters worked like any other.

“It’s much like every year, there’s a new influenza vaccine,” she said. “It’s just tailored a little bit to what we’re expecting to see.”

Tokheim said an updated immune response against the more recently developed variants could help as the virus continues to evolve.

"As we’ve seen over the last two and half years, the COVID virus has mutated several times and it continues to do so,“ she said. ”However, having previous antibodies, having a previous response to a variant does give protection for future variants that we might see.“

The booster need not match the brand of the recipient’s first dose or booster shot, according to Tokheim.

“People can ‘mix and match’ boosters (and) primary doses,” she said. “In this situation, individuals in the 12-17 year category will have to get the Pfizer booster if they want to get one because Moderna has only been approved for those 18 and older. However, switching brands is not limited to age reasons and anyone may switch if they wish.”

The availability of boosters varies by County. Henry and Washington County public health officials said their vaccine clinics had both Pfizer and Moderna boosters available. Staff at Jefferson County Public Health said their agency only had Moderna Boosters, but information on why they had only that brand was not immediately available.

Upcoming vaccine clinics through local public health agencies are scheduled at the following dates:

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com