Santa Clara County began administering the new COVID-19 booster vaccines Wednesday, offering protection against two subvariants of the omicron variant as well as the virus' original strain.
Federal regulators approved the boosters manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna last week. Both vaccines are bivalent, targeting the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of omicron as well as the original COVID strain.
The Moderna booster is available to adults while the Pfizer booster is available to people ages 12 and up.
The new boosters will be used for all future booster vaccinations for people ages 12 and up while the original mRNA vaccines will only be authorized for initial vaccine series for those aged 6 months and up and as a booster for kids between ages 5 and 11.
"The county of Santa Clara is committed to quickly making the bivalent vaccines readily available to our community," Santa Clara Valley Medical Center Associate Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jennifer Tong said in a statement. "Our hope is this will slow transmission and mitigate harm that may come from a fall or winter surge."
People are eligible for one dose of the omicron-specific boosters if it has been at least two months since completing their initial vaccination series.
Boosters will also be available via large health care providers as well as retail pharmacies like CVS.
People can make a vaccination appointment at a county-run clinic at covid19.sccgov.org/covid-19-vaccine-information.
Comments
Registered user
Greenmeadow
on Sep 8, 2022 at 3:46 pm
Registered user
on Sep 8, 2022 at 3:46 pm
It’s still not clear to me- if you’re under 50, not immunocompromised, and did the first two shots and then a booster last fall, are you eligible for the new booster? I would think yes, but every time I try to enter my info into the PAMF or county booking system, it tells me I am not…
Registered user
Duveneck/St. Francis
on Sep 9, 2022 at 5:31 pm
Registered user
on Sep 9, 2022 at 5:31 pm
Sign up at CVS no problem.
You help by reducing transmission to others, in addition to protecting yourself to some extent (if under 50). Though Covid risk is largely age-related, an array appear to get long Covid, which nobody wants!
Registered user
Crescent Park
on Sep 10, 2022 at 8:29 am
Registered user
on Sep 10, 2022 at 8:29 am
I have had the two recommended COVID vaccinations + two boosters.
With this new COVID booster being announced, it will now make five shots to date.
When is this all going to end?
Registered user
Duveneck/St. Francis
on Sep 12, 2022 at 8:18 am
Registered user
on Sep 12, 2022 at 8:18 am
"When is this all going to end?"
^ When COVID becomes endemic rather than epidemic.
But keep in mind that 'endemic' means that COVID can still be contracted.
An example...monkeypox is endemic in West Africa but rapidly becoming an epidemic here in the United States.