Milwaukee Health Department to start offering the new COVID-19 bivalent booster vaccine Monday
The Milwaukee Health Department will begin offering the updated single-dose COVID-19 bivalent booster vaccine on Monday at one of its locations and expand to two more on Tuesday.
The boosters will be available at the Menomonee Valley Drive-Thru Clinic at 2401 W. St. Paul Ave. starting Monday and starting Tuesday at the Northwest Health Center, 7630 W. Mill Road, and Southside Health Center, 1639 S. 23rd St.
The boosters from the Health Department will be free. Neither an appointment nor proof of insurance are needed to receive the vaccine.
The booster is meant to target both the original strain of the virus as well as the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron subvariants, according to a Health Department statement.
They are recommended for people at least 12 years old who have received their primary COVID-19 vaccine series and have not gotten a COVID-19 vaccine in the last two months.
The Pfizer booster is available to those 12 and older while the Moderna booster is available for those 18 and older.
"The Pfizer and Moderna updated boosters can be administered two months after any primary series — including Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, or Novavax — or two months following any additional original booster dose," according to the Health Department statement.
Those who have never received a COVID vaccine should receive the original series before getting a booster.
Milwaukee Health Commissioner Kirsten Johnson in the statement encouraged residents to get the booster, saying protection against the virus has waned in the months since many people got their last vaccine or booster dose.
A number of private pharmacies with direct contracts with the federal government have received doses and are already taking appointments and walk-ins.
A flu shot can be safely administered at the same time as the booster, and Health Department vaccine clinics will start making flu shots available Monday as well.
More information about Health Department vaccine clinics is at Milwaukee.gov/COVIDvax.
More: Wisconsinites can order 5 free at-home rapid antigen COVID-19 tests through a new website
Contact Alison Dirr at 414-224-2383 or adirr@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter @AlisonDirr.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Health Department to offer new COVID omicron vaccine booster
