COVID-19 booster shot: What to know about getting 3rd dose of Pfizer, Moderna vaccine
Added protection may reduce variant spread.
Lindsey Leake- Severely immunocompromised people may get second booster now
- USF epidemiologist: Failure to obtain booster may delay herd immunity
- J&J vaccine recipients also may need future booster
Until recently, if you said you were fully vaccinated against COVID-19, that meant you’d received either two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials now say a third dose may be the charm to stave off severe illness.
“The available data make very clear that protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection begins to decrease over time,” the agency said Aug. 18 in a joint statement whose authors include Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “In association with the dominance of the delta variant, we are starting to see evidence of reduced protection against mild and moderate disease.”
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Americans who received two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine will become eligible for a third shot — the second booster — the week of Sept. 20, HHS announced.
Don’t expect a repeat of the logjams seen across the Treasure Coast earlier this year, when too many people clamored for too few doses, and tens of thousands were relegated to waitlists. People aren’t eligible for a third shot until eight months after their second.
Why do I need another COVID booster shot?
Think back to February.
Infections in the tri-county region had plummeted 50% after a record burst of post-holiday cases in January. COVID deaths and hospitalizations were down too. Variant infections had yet to spread in earnest. If you were fully vaccinated by June, you’d maybe ditched your mask and resumed pre-pandemic activities.
The tide has turned for the worse since then. A record 10,051 new infections were recorded on the Treasure Coast from July 2 through Aug. 5. The highly infectious delta variant debuted — and spread — locally. Unvaccinated patients flooded area hospitals.
Boosting immunization among the fully vaccinated is likely to curb further spread, said Dr. Lyssette Cardona, an infectious disease specialist at Cleveland Clinic Martin Health.
“We know that sometimes your protection can wane,” she said. “This will be the additional protection that people will have to build a strong immunity for the different variants, including the delta.”
The CDC’s new booster shot guidelines should not be taken to mean the vaccine isn’t working, she stressed.
“They still continue to be effective to prevent the worst of the disease,” she said. “This is keeping you out of the hospital and dying.”
What happens if I don’t get a third COVID shot?
Skipping your second booster shot isn’t a risk worth taking, said Edwin Michael, an epidemiologist at the University of South Florida College of Public Health.
“If a significant proportion [miss the third dose], then that will result in increasing the pool of susceptibles available to spread the virus — including any new variants,” he said. “In this case, herd immunity may never be achieved.”
About 59% of Treasure Coast residents had been at least partially inoculated through Aug. 26, Florida Department of Health (DOH) records show.
Based on this summer’s explosive rate of infections, 90% of the population may need to be immunized to reach herd immunity, Michael told TCPalm earlier this month.
Community transmission remained at its most dangerous level in Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties the week ending Aug. 25, according to the CDC.
Intensive care units at four local hospitals were full as of Aug. 30, HHS records show:
- Sebastian River Medical Center
- Lawnwood Regional Medical Center
- St. Lucie Medical Center
- Cleveland Clinic Martin North Hospital
If more people aren’t vaccinated and those who are don’t get another booster, history will repeat itself, Michael cautioned.
“Cycles of short, sharp surges of the virus will occur over the future,” he said. “The third [dose] will be important to reduce further large outbreaks if immunity is shown to be short-term.”
Immunocompromised people now eligible for COVID booster
People with compromised immune systems became eligible for a third vaccine dose Aug. 13.
Double-vaccinated people in this group not only accounted for up to 44% of hospitalized breakthrough cases in small studies, according to the CDC, but also are more likely to spread the virus within their households.
The agency includes people with these conditions in its definition of moderately to severely immunocompromised:
- Untreated or advanced HIV
- Active cancer treatment
- Organ transplant
- Stem cell transplant within last two years
- Primary immunodeficiency
- Active treatment with high-dose corticosteroids.
“[They’re] a higher priority,” Cardona said. “They don’t respond as well to vaccines.”
They may receive a third dose 28 days after their second. All three should be by the same manufacturer when possible; if not, either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine is acceptable, the CDC said.
When and where can I get my third vaccine dose?
The general population must wait at least eight months after their second dose to get a third, regardless of whether they received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.
If you got your first dose of Moderna Jan. 20, for example, you should’ve gotten the second dose 28 days later on Feb. 17, making you eligible for a third dose Oct. 17.
Vaccines are more widely available than they were eight months ago, which should ease the burden on health care providers, said DOH-Martin spokesperson Renay Rouse.
Your CDC vaccination card indicates your dosage history. You’re not required to get your third dose at the same location you got your first and/or second, though doing so may expedite the process since your record will be on file, Rouse said.
Mass vaccination clinics that sprung up at fairgrounds, community centers and even malls are not scheduled to reopen. But there are over 120 places on the Treasure Coast to get the vaccine. Ask your primary care physician if they can give you the booster.
People who are homebound may request a vaccine by calling 866-779-6121 or emailing homeboundvaccine@em.myflorida.com. A request form is available online.
Because Floridians 65 and older were the first segment of the population to become eligible for vaccination, they’ll be first in line for a third shot come the week of Sept. 20.
“We expect the response to be very similar in terms of the seniors being very eager to get that shot, which is excellent,” Rouse said.
What if I got the J&J vaccine?
If you received Johnson & Johnson's single vaccine dose, you’re not eligible for a booster shot yet, but that could change sooner than later.
J&J is working with the FDA and CDC to possibly provide booster shots, after studies showed a second dose increased the body’s immune response, the company announced Aug. 25.
J&J, granted emergency use authorization in the U.S. in late February, provides strong protection against COVID-19 for at least eight months, according to the manufacturer.
“Most likely, [J&J recipients] will need a booster as well,” Cardona said. “It’s just that the data is being reviewed.”
Lindsey Leake is TCPalm's health, welfare and social justice reporter. She has a master's in journalism and digital storytelling from American University, a bachelor's from Princeton and is a science writing graduate student at Johns Hopkins. Follow her on Twitter @NewsyLindsey, Facebook @LindseyMLeake and Instagram @newsylindsey. Call her at 772-529-5378 or email her at lindsey.leake@tcpalm.com.