OH offering COVID-19 boosters
Oct. 26—Owensboro Health was set to begin administering booster doses for both Moderna and Johnson & Johnson Monday following a U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorization last week in addition to update guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The FDA authorized the vaccine boosters on Wednesday, quickly followed by updated CDC guidelines on Thursday.
"The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) authorization and CDC's recommendation for use are important steps forward as we work to stay ahead of the virus and keep Americans safe," said an announcement from the CDC. "Millions of people are newly eligible to receive a booster shot and will benefit from additional protection."
The CDC updated its guidance in late-September to recommend a third Pfizer booster.
This latest update, according to BC Childress, OH director of outpatient pharmacy, will give individuals who have received any of the three COVID-19 vaccines a chance to get a booster dose to further their protection against the virus.
Even more, he said, the vaccines can now be mixed and matched based on the patient's preference.
For anyone who has received initial doses of Pfizer or Moderna, according to the CDC, individuals ages 65 or older, 18 or older in long-term care settings, with underlying medical conditions, or working in high-risk settings, are all eligible for a booster dose after six months.
For those who have received a Johnson & Johnson initial does, a second dose is now recommended for anyone ages 18 or older at least two months after initial vaccination.
The ability to mix and match vaccines, Childress said, is a significant difference from previous guidance.
"Moderna and Pfizer, those are MRNA vaccines that work in the same exact way, just with slightly different formulations and doses, but we weren't allowed, under that provider contract with the CDC, to mix and match those. Now, with that approval that came out ... that gives us flexibility to, not only mix and match those two, but mix and match with J&J as well," he said. "I think it does make it easier in some ways for us."
Mixing and matching, he said, will allow patients more freedom to choose which vaccine they would prefer now that there is more widely available information about each of the available vaccines.
Additionally, Childress said the second Johnson & Johnson dose will provide much better protection for those who have previously received it.
"What the data shows us there, and really what we've known all along with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, is it's not quite as effective of the mRNA vaccines and really, if it wanted to reach that same level of efficacy, it needed to be a two-dose series. But they wanted to market it as a one-dose option," he said. "Receiving that second dose has been shown to really impact the immune response to increase antibody production and offer better protection."
For those who are immunocompromised, Childress said they will receive three full doses of Pfizer or Moderna in addition to a booster dose six months after the initial three-dose series.
To schedule a vaccine with OH, visit OwensboroHealth.org/ Vaccine.
Christie Netherton, cnetherton@messenger-inquirer.com, 270-691-7360
