When is the best time to get the updated Ómicron booster vaccine?
Although someone’s schedule may change depending on health, employment, or travel plans, officials generally recommend taking the bivalent extra dose before the busy fall and winter holiday season.
A little over a month before Halloween, “it’s a good idea to plan for more protection by getting this updated booster in the coming weeks,” said Los Angeles County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer.
Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at the University of California, San Francisco, suggested that people who qualify receive both the new booster and the flu shot by October.
“If you go trick-or-treating on Halloween and haven’t had the flu shot or booster vaccine yet, it’s time to do it,” he said.
Authorities say it takes two weeks after the injection to complete the protective effect of the booster. The vaccine will be most effective one month after the injection, but people should enjoy a good degree of protection for four to five months, according to Chin-Hong.
The updated vaccine is known as a bivalent booster. Unlike the conventional monovalent and booster vaccine, designed exclusively against the parent strain of the coronavirus, the new vaccine targets the parent strain and Omicron subvariants that have dominated the United States in recent months, including BA .5.
The updated boosters mean that most Californians “will be able to strengthen their protection against COVID-19 as we head into the fall and winter seasons,” said Dr. Mark Ghaly, MD, in a joint statement at the start. Of this month. State Human Services and Dr. Tomás Aragón, California State Director of Public Health and Health Officer.
“Because protection against infection can decrease over time, upgraded boosters are a surefire way to maintain protection and reduce more serious COVID-19 outcomes, such as hospitalization, lengthy COVID and death,” Ghaly said.
During the first fall and winter wave of the pandemic in 2020, coronavirus cases in California began to rise in November and accelerated sharply in December. Last year, cases started piling up in December.
People who have not been vaccinated or cured of a coronavirus infection this calendar year should plan for the new vaccine as soon as possible, Chin-Hong said.
And those who have a big trip coming up, or are headed to a place with a higher risk of exposure, should schedule their booster at least two weeks before their event.
However, Ferrer and Chin-Hong say people at higher risk for serious illness, such as the elderly, immunosuppressed or pregnant women, should receive the new vaccine without delay.
“People who are at risk for serious complications … I’d probably give them the vaccine now, because that’s really my priority group,” Chin-Hong said.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) generally suggests that residents refrain from vaccinating if it has been less than three months since they tested positive for coronavirus or started experiencing coronavirus symptoms.
Other factors could alter that time, such as the person’s risk factors for developing serious illness.
In addition, at least two months must have elapsed since the last vaccination or conventional booster dose before receiving the updated booster dose.
It’s not dangerous to get the new booster dose sooner than recommended, Chin-Hong said. But waiting for enough time will help produce a more effective immune response.
For those at lower risk of serious COVID-19 illness, some experts say it might be reasonable to wait a little while, scheduling the vaccine a little closer, but not too close, to Thanksgiving and the winter holidays.
“While it is humbling to look back and remember the enormity of COVID’s impact on our lives, we are also encouraged as we tackle our third winter with COVID as we head into the colder months with an updated autumn booster that fits the variations that they are currently circulating, ”Ferrer said during a recent briefing.
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