COVID Vaccine Update

(More than) Three Things Thursday

Three Things Thursday highlights three things I am paying attention to as an epidemiologist each week.

This week is all about the approval of COVID boosters for (just about) everyone.

The key messages this week are quite simple —

The COVID booster is safe.

The COVID booster is effective.

The COVID booster will help save lives, limit the number of people requiring hospitalization, and minimize symptoms. And to quote the Chief Medical Officer at my community hospital —

“One thing I’ve learned about COVID throughout the past few years
is it’s really unpredictable.”

We can take back some control from this unpredictable disease by getting vaccinated.

Below are answers to all the who? what? when? where? why? and how? questions related to the new booster shot.

Hoping this post helps to educate and empower you
to be healthy and create healthy communities.

HOW do we know the booster shots are safe?

The short answer is we conduct four rounds of clinical trials (phases 1-3 + post-marketing surveillance). Clinical trials are conducted among a group of human volunteers where some receive the vaccine and the rest do not (usually they get a shot of saline or vitamin B12). During the clinical trial, the research team monitors the health of each participant as well as markers of an immune response among those who were vaccinated.

Clinical trials are the gold standard test for the approval of each and every drug/vaccine that is approved by the FDA. For a drug/vaccine to be approved, it does not need to be perfect — meaning a vaccine does not need to be 100% effective nor does a chemotherapy drug need to cure cancer in 100% of patients treated. Instead, we need to see that the benefits of the drug/vaccine far outweigh the risks associated with the drug/vaccine.

Not only has every COVID vaccine gone through the clinical trial process, but we also have years of post-marketing surveillance, which is where we monitor what is happening among the millions of individuals who have received a COVID vaccine.

To date, here is what we know… COVID vaccines save lives, prevent hospitalizations, and reduce the risk of severe disease. We also know that for some period of time after vaccination, individuals will be able to prevent illness or reduce the amount of time they are sick because of vaccine-developed immunity.

The COVID boosters are NOT perfect. Of course not. But they are our frontline defense against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which as quoted above is unpredictable and continues to kill more than 800 Americans each week and lands more than 18,000 individuals in the hospital each week.

WHY get vaccinated?

You just read it.

COVID is still killing hundreds of Americans each week and causing 10s of 1000s to be hospitalized. The vaccine can reduce your chances of dying and being hospitalized. Additionally — the booster shots may slow the spread of COVID to individuals at high risk, whose immune systems may be too weak to produce an effective response to the vaccine.

Getting vaccinated is how we love our neighbors.

Getting vaccinated helps to create healthy communities.

WHEN & WHERE can I get my booster shot?

The booster shots have been authorized by FDA and approved by CDC. They just need to be shipped out to pharmacies, hospitals, and doctors’ offices. This may take some time. But you should be able to get a vaccine in your community in the coming days/weeks. Use the vaccines.gov website to find a location near you.

Timing when to get your booster shot is a bit of a crap-shoot. Wait too long and you might get COVID before your booster; get it too soon and your immunity could wane before the end of the COVID-flu-RSV season in March/April.

Here is some guidance —

If you are young(ish) and healthy and have had a previous COVID shot or had COVID, I’d wait until (at least) early October to get your booster shot. Get it with your flu shot.

If you are immunocompromised or at high risk for severe COVID (this includes being older than 65 or being obese), I’d get my booster as soon as they are available in your community, especially if you haven’t had COVID or a vaccine in the past nine months (or more).

Babies and young children, especially those who have not had COVID or a vaccine, should get their booster as soon as possible.

If you have had COVID or a booster shot recently, you should wait at least two months before getting this new booster. If you were sick with COVID or received a vaccine over the summer, I’d wait until November and get the booster shot a week or two before the Thanksgiving holiday.

And, YES(!!) — you can get your COVID booster and annual flu shot at the same time. It is both safe & effective.

And, Pfizer vs. Moderna? They are both safe and effective. Get the booster that is convenient for you. If your doctor has Pfizer, get it! If your local pharmacy is giving Moderna, get it!

What is important is that you get the booster.¹

WHO needs a COVID booster?

Everyone. As long as they are more than 6 months old.

Thinking that you are strong enough to fight off COVID without the vaccine. Or that COVID is just the flu. Or that your immune system is capable of dealing with COVID. These beliefs go against every single bit of public health and medical advice and all the evidence that has been collected since the start of the pandemic.

All of our immune systems need a boost before we head into COVID-flu-RSV season.

The new booster shot is capable of producing neutralizing antibodies against the currently circulating subvariants of COVID. The new booster may keep you out of the hospital. The new booster may prevent you from dying from COVID. The new booster will help protect the most vulnerable and most at-risk individuals in our communities.

The new booster is for everyone.

---

Personally — I plan to get my flu and COVID vaccines in early October. I’ll vaccinate both of my kids then, too. We will be sure to update our vaccine pictures at that time.

Do you have other questions? Or want to schedule a time to get booster together? Leave me a comment —

And please share this with your friends and family — vaccine immunity is amplified when we are all vaccinated.

1. Note — we are waiting on Novavax. The Novavax booster is NOT an mRNA vaccine. It uses older technology to stimulate the immune system. While I wouldn’t wait beyond early October for Novavax, if it is available it will likely be my vaccine of choice. There is evidence that mixing and matching vaccines (I’ve had Pfizer) and boosters (think: Novavax) gives an extra boost to the immune system. If FDA approves Novavax, CDC will greenlight it, too. The timeline for approval is TBD. Stay tuned for info… But there may be another booster option in the future.