Updated COVID-19 booster shots approved Thursday by a panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could be available to Allegheny County residents as soon as next week, a county official said.
Pfizer-BioNTech’s booster will be available for people 12 and older, and Moderna’s for 18 and older. These updated boosters target the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron subvariants, which are responsible for nearly all reported COVID-19 infections in Allegheny County. The latest lab results, from the week ending Aug. 13, found that BA.4 accounted for 16% of the county’s cases and BA.5 for 84%.
The updated boosters, called bivalent boosters, have a special formula that provides protection against both the original strain of COVID-19 and some omicron subvariants.
These are the first vaccines that are tailored to the way the virus is evolving, approved Wednesday by the Food and Drug Administration.
They are based on the same mRNA technology as the previous vaccines. Dr. Graham Snyder, medical director of infection prevention and hospital epidemiology at UPMC and a professor at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, said this means they should have a similar safety profile, especially because those initial vaccines were tested in clinical trials of tens of thousands of participants, and over 23 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have already been administered in Pennsylvania alone.
When can I get the booster?
Dr. Kristen Mertz, Allegheny County Health Department’s medical epidemiologist, said the new boosters could be available as soon as next week at ACHD’s Immunization Clinic.
People who want to get this booster must have already had the two primary doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, and waited two months or more after their previous COVID-19 vaccine dose, whether that be the primary dose or a booster.
"We are still waiting on vaccine deliveries, and anticipate arrival in the coming days,” Dr. Snyder said. “We’ll know just after Labor Day when we will be able to offer bivalent vaccine boosters to the communities we serve."
Vaccination rates remained the same this week, with 82.4% of people 5 and older having at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, 73% being fully vaccinated and 55.7% having at least one booster shot. This means 73% of Allegheny County residents are eligible for the updated omicron boosters.
“If you have not yet been vaccinated, please get vaccinated,” urged Dr. Snyder, saying that the vaccines strengthen and broaden our immune response. “Don’t delay, even if this virus is changing,” he said. “Consider this booster dose without concern for future variants.” Though there are other variants circulating, like BA.2.75, Dr. Mertz encouraged everyone eligible to get the updated booster. “It will provide some level of protection against existing and future variants.”
What if I’ve had COVID?
If you recently had COVID-19, Dr. Mertz said to consider waiting 90 days until getting this booster. COVID-19 infections reported to the Allegheny County Health Department this week fell for the fourth week in a row, with 2,054 infections reported. 2,302 infections were reported the week of Aug. 18–24. There was also a decrease in positive home tests reported, with 132 this week and 140 last week.
ACHD director Dr. Debra Bogen said in an email last week that the COVID-19 data being reported could be from a backlog as far back as Sept. 30, 2021. This means the hospitalizations and deaths reported weekly may not have occurred that week; that is just when they were reported. Nonetheless, the county reported 112 hospitalizations this week and 11 deaths, down from 240 hospitalizations and 27 deaths reported last week.
While case counts are low, wastewater testing for the presence of coronavirus in sewage showed a 6% to 7% daily increase for the week of Aug. 16–24.
Where can I get the shot?
The CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices met on Thursday to confirm that officials could start administering the updated boosters. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the CDC director, approved the decision later that evening.
To allow health care providers to administer this vaccine as soon as possible, “pharmacies and other providers were allowed to place advance orders for them,” Dr. Mertz said. Allegheny County residents should call providers to ensure they will have the new vaccine before making an appointment.
Black communities suffered from higher rates of COVID-19 infection compared to white communities, and there were times they had more limited access to vaccines. Dr. Snyder said he wants to make sure this updated booster will be available to everyone UPMC serves, not just certain communities.
“We should apply what we have learned in this pandemic about closing health equity gaps,” he said.
Even if you do get the new shot, Dr. Snyder reiterated the importance of getting a diagnosis if you are sick and avoiding transmitting the virus to others if you are contagious.
Hanna Webster: hwebster@post-gazette.com
First Published: September 1, 2022, 11:19 p.m.
Updated: September 2, 2022, 10:47 a.m.
