It comes just as many people have been wondering about boosters, and whether or not it’s time to get another one.
“I get that from a lot of patients,” said Sharp Community Medical Group Doctor Kaveh Bahmanpour.
Dr. Bahmanpour says there’s a lot of confusion over whether or not another booster shot is needed for those who have one.
“They wanna know, ‘what now?,’ ‘Is it ok to get another booster?’,” he said.
Earlier this week, the Food and Drug Administration provided more clarity by announcing people 65 and older may now receive one additional dose of the updated booster at least four months following their initial updated booster dose.
The agency also said most immunocompromised people may receive an additional booster dose at least two months following their first updated booster dose.
Those same individuals can also receive additional future doses at the discretion of their healthcare providers. The CDC is now recommending these new guidelines for people who meet that criteria.
But, what about people who don’t meet that criteria? That depends on when you got your booster shot.
The most updated version, known as bivalent, which protects against all strains, including the omicron variant, was released in September of 2022.
If you received that booster, no need to do anything else right now.
“If you had that, your vaccination is updated and completed,” said Bahmanpour.
However, if you got boosted before then, it’s recommended you do get an updated one, no matter your age or health.
If you’re not vaccinated at all, the CDC has ended the original two-dose series of shots. Instead, you’ll get one updated vaccine, followed by an updated booster.
“The only change is the monovalent or the original series of vaccines is now being changed to be the bivalent vaccine,” said Dr. Ankita Kadakia, with the County of San Diego.
CBS 8 asked both doctors, looking ahead, will annual booster shots be recommended, similar to the annual flu shot?
Both doctors said, that’s still being discussed at the federal level, adding we should know more by this summer.
“The determination for whether there should be additional booster shots especially for individuals below the age of 65 that will happen in June when the FDA advisory committee comes together to look at what the fall strain composition might be,” said Dr.Kadakia.
“Whether this is gonna be once a year or hopefully it’s something we get one time and immune the rest of our life we have to wait and see how it will play out,” said Dr.Bahmanpour.
Vaccines and booster shots are still provided free of charge.
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Published on The Perfect Enemy at https://bit.ly/3AmkoDa.
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