Michele Bever, South Heartland District Health Department (SHDHD) executive director, reported new recommendations for bivalent vaccines and continued moderate COVID virus levels in local wastewater.
The most recent wastewater surveillance report for Hastings samples collected on April 11 showed that levels of the virus that causes COVID-19 had decreased over the previous 15 days, but remained at moderate levels. Bever also reported two long-term care facilities with COVID-19 outbreaks in the past two weeks, as well as two patients in South Heartland hospitals because of COVID-19 last Tuesday.
Bever said the department has been receiving questions from people wanting to know when they will be able to get another COVID-19 shot to boost their immunity.
“Last week the FDA amended its emergency use authorizations for bivalent Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) updated their recommendations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),” Bever said.
Janis Johnson, a registered nurse and South Heartland’s immunization manager, explained the new recommendations. “People will no longer need “primary” doses or “booster” doses of monovalent vaccine,” she said. Instead, the new COVID-19 vaccine recommendations are as follows:
• CDC’s new recommendations allow an additional updated (bivalent) vaccine dose for adults ages 65 years and older and additional doses for people who are immunocompromised. This allows more flexibility for healthcare providers to administer additional doses to immunocompromised patients as needed.
• Monovalent (original) mRNA COVID-19 vaccines will no longer be recommended for use in the United States.
• CDC recommends that everyone ages 6 years and older receive an updated (bivalent) mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, regardless of whether they previously completed their (monovalent) primary series.
• Individuals ages 6 years and older who have already received an updated mRNA vaccine do not need to take any action unless they are 65 years or older or immunocompromised.
• For young children, multiple doses continue to be recommended and will vary by age, vaccine, and which vaccines were previously received.
For more information, see the CDC’s updated recommendations from April 19, 2023: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2023/s0419-covid-vaccines.html and https://www.cdc. gov/vaccines/covid-19/clinical-considerations/covid-19-vaccines-us.html.
Bever re-emphasized previous messages:“With the virus continuing to circulate in our communities, people who are at higher risk for severe illness, but also those living, working and interacting with others who are more vulnerable to severe illness, should continue to take precautions against the spread of this respiratory virus, which continues to change and reinfect. Staying up to date on vaccinations is one of these precautions,” Bever said.
SHDHD is offering walk-in access to free COVID-19 bivalent vaccine at 606 N. Minnesota Ave, Hastings, on the second and fourth Wednesday of May (May 10 and May 24), from noon until 3 p.m. For other locations offering COVID-19 vaccine in Adams, Clay, Nuckolls and Webster counties, refer to the SHDHD website, southheartlandhealth.ne.gov, or call the health department office, 1-877-238-7595.
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