Updated COVID-19 booster to be available in SWFL after Labor Day

Reporter: Tiffany Rizzo Writer: Joey Pellegrino
Published:
Windows looking into a facility where COVID-19 vaccines are being mass-produced. Credit; WINK news

Updated COVID-19 booster shots, tailored to the most widespread virus variants, will be available within days. The BA.5 variant of the omicron strain is dominant, and shots will help protect you as we head into the fall.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky says the vaccine will be outdated if the department waits too long to distribute it. Right now, the strategy is to tailor vaccines that would be most effective against the most virulent strains and create one that won’t wane over time.

The boosters will be available to anyone 12 years old or older. You can get that booster at the same place where you got your original dose, whether that was a doctor’s office, a pharmacy or a community health clinic. While some states pre-ordered the vaccine, Florida did not, so the shots might not be available until a little later.

“We think we will get them sometime after Labor Day, so, as early as next week, each state will have to order them and each site will have to order them,” said Dr. Lysette Cardona, chair of infectious diseases at Cleveland Clinic Martin Health.

Government agencies hope to have vaccines approved for children 5 through 11 available by early October.

The only people who should not get the updated booster are those who got the earlier booster in the past two months.

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