COVID-19 booster: What you need to know

While COVID-19 may feel like it’s fading into the past, health officials are gearing up for another round of booster shots, likely to come some time this fall. With masks going by the wayside, a vaccine may offer the best protection against infection and severe disease.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has yet to issue specific recommendations but many are expecting that COVID boosters will soon become annual events, with tweaks made each year depending on the dominant strain similar to the way the flu vaccine works.

“We’re in for a big change from the CDC,” said Dr. Rick Reifenberg, a primary care physician and former chief medical officer for HealthNet, a federally qualified health center with nine locations in Central Indiana.“We’re all curious as clinicians, what is the CDC going to suggest going forward.”

Here’s what we know so far:

COVID-19 seeing slight uptick

New COVID-19 cases are among the lowest levels they have been since the start of the pandemic, according to the state’s COVID dashboard.

But that could also be due in part to the fact that many people who test positive do so through home tests that never get reported. Week over week, there is a rise in cases of 29 for a total of 145.

The amount of the virus officials have tracked in wastewater has risen slightly and emergency room department visits for COVID exceeded last week’s numbers by seven.

What will be in this fall’s COVID shot?

In June the Food and Drug Administration told vaccine makers that they hoped to see a vaccine for the fall that would protect against a strain of the virus that’s related to Omicron.Unlike last year’s bivalent booster, which targeted the original strain of COVID and two Omicron strains, this shot will only target an XBB strain, which experts are predicting will be the dominant one this fall. The new shot will not contain any protection against the first COVID strain, which has not been in circulation since 2021.

When might this new COVID shot arrive?

In July, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra sent a letter to COVID vaccine manufacturers advising them to have vaccines ready for the FDA to approve and the CDC to recommend by the “latter part of September.”Last week during earning calls, Moderna and Pfizer officials announced their companies are poised to start shipping doses as soon as the FDA approves their new vaccines. Novovax has a similar vaccine waiting in the wings.

Who should get the new COVID shot?

Until the CDC makes formal recommendations, it’s hard to know.

In April, the CDC recommended that everyone 6 years of age and older receive a bivalent booster whether or not they had completed the initial two-dose series.

The CDC could decide to go a similar path and recommend this new shot for anyone, regardless of their vaccine history.

Can you still get COVID vaccines now?

Absolutely. HealthNet is holding vaccine clinics at least through the end of this week where they dole out the primary series or the booster for free, depending on their age and health condition

Most of the adults they’re currently seeing are taking the booster, though periodically they do meet a patient who has just decided to get the vaccine for the first time, Reifenberg said.

For more information about the clinics, visit indyhealthnet.org/covid-19.

If you’re up-to-date on your shots, what should you do?

At this point the best course for those who are up-to-date is just to wait and see what the CDC recommends, Reifenberg said.

Contact IndyStar reporter Shari Rudavsky at shari.rudavsky@aherron

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: COVID-19 booster that protects against XBB strain likely coming soon