New COVID-19 vaccine boosters available in Erie County as soon as Friday
Two COVID-19 vaccine boosters designed to protect against the latest omicron variants should be available at Erie County pharmacies, clinics and physician offices within days.
Both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna boosters were authorized last week by the Food & Drug Administration and recommended by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. The "bivalent" vaccines target both the original virus and the BA.4 and BA.5 variants that now dominate the world.
“The first two weeks of supply are limited, so we anticipate (Moderna) being available for our clinic Friday at LECOM Center for Health and Aging,” said Jim Caputo, LECOM Health's vaccine coordinator. The new vaccine also will be available to the public next week at LECOM Health's Corry Memorial Hospital.
"AHN Saint Vincent anticipates providing the vaccines to patients in the coming week in the primary care and other practices that currently provide vaccine," said Monica Lewis, Saint Vincent spokeswoman.
Officials with UPMC Hamot said they expect to receive the new vaccine next week and will provide it at physician offices, though no dates have been announced. The bivalent vaccine will also be available soon at chain pharmacies, including Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid, according to the CDC.
How to get your COVID vaccine booster
To receive a vaccine at the LECOM Center for Health and Aging, visit lecom.eventbrite.org or call 814-812-9851. To make a vaccine appointment at Corry Memorial, call 814-664-4641, Ext. 1234.
If you want to receive a vaccine from your Hamot or Saint Vincent provider, call their office or visit upmc.com/coronavirus/covid-vaccine or ahn.org/coronavirus/vaccine/schedule.html.
Both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are available as booster shots, meaning you must have already received your primary series of COVID-19 vaccinations to be eligible. It also must be at least two months since your last COVID-19 primary or booster vaccination.
The Pfizer-BioNTech booster is available to people 12 and older, while Moderna's booster is available to people 18 and older.
"I'm excited about the new vaccines. They are the latest updates in vaccine coverage," said Dr. Christopher Clark, Saint Vincent president. "It better targets the variants we are seeing in the community."
These new boosters are so new that data on their effectiveness is not yet available. Still, officials expect the more targeted booster will increase protection against severe disease and prevent milder infections for some period of time, as well as long COVID, which leads to lingering symptoms such as profound fatigue and brain fog, USA TODAY reported.
"It's similar to what we see each year with the flu vaccine, as it is adapted to the strains of flu we are seeing around the world," Clark said.
More: Has the COVID vaccine finally reached annual flu shot status? Health officials are hopeful.
Erie County COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations
Erie County's number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations both declined slightly this week as omicron BA.5 continues to be the area's most dominant COVID-19 variant.
The number of newly confirmed cases among county residents declined from 327 between Aug. 24-30 to 292 from Aug. 31-Sept. 6, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. It's the second straight week the number has dropped.
COVID-19 hospitalizations of county residents declined from a daily average of 36 to 32.6 during those weeks, halting a two-week increase, the state health department reported.
However, testing of samples taken at the Erie Wastewater Treatment Plant last week showed an increase in coronavirus, said Dr. Howard Nadworny, an infectious diseases specialist at Saint Vincent Hospital and Erie County Department of Health adviser.
"Wastewater levels had been slowly declining but rose again at the end of last week, suggesting increasing COVID spread, possibly related to school reopening," Nadworny said in an email. "I don't yet have a sense as to whether we will see a new mini-surge with schools reopening or a longer plateau."
More: Erie-area schools, colleges will look much like they did before COVID-19 pandemic
One additional death due to COVID-19 complications was reported Wednesday by the county health department. Eleven COVID-19 deaths have been reported in the county since July 1 and 839 deaths since the pandemic started.
Here is a look at the county's other COVID-19 measurements between Aug. 24-30 and Aug. 31-Sept. 6, according to the state health department:
The rate of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents declined from 121.2 to 108.3.
The positivity rate for COVID-19 tests rose from 24.7% to 25.4%.
The average daily number of COVID-19 patients on ventilators increased from 2 to 3.3.
The percentage of emergency department visits due to COVID-19 symptoms dropped from 1.6% to 0.9%.
Contact David Bruce at dbruce@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNBruce.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: New COVID-19 vaccine boosters available in Erie starting Friday
