Speaker 1: (00:00)
Following recent federal approval for booster doses of the Pfizer vaccine, San Diego officials are urging eligible residents to seek out the additional dose here's county supervisor, Nathan Fletcher, on what this means for the counties push to get San Diego vaccinated. And this
Speaker 2: (00:16)
Authorization for the booster shot is another step. A continuation of that effort.
Speaker 1: (00:21)
While many Americans are eager to bolster their immunity against COVID-19 questions remain about who's exactly eligible to receive the booster shot here now, to answer those questions and more is KPBS health reporter Matt Hoffman, Matt, welcome back to the program. Good afternoon,
Speaker 3: (00:38)
Jane. So starting
Speaker 1: (00:39)
Off who is eligible to receive a booster dose of the Pfizer COVID vaccine,
Speaker 3: (00:43)
Similar to what we saw earlier when vaccines were first phased in. So those who are at the, you know, the highest risk of, you know, having severe complications being hospitalized or dying from catching the virus. So we're talking about people that are over 65, those with underlying medical conditions and people who are at an increased risk of exposure because of their job. And that includes a gamut of, of industries, you know, healthcare workers, grocery store employees, and also first responders.
Speaker 1: (01:08)
Does the CDC offer any guidance about who should receive a booster dose at this time versus who may
Speaker 3: (01:14)
Yes. Is the short answer. Um, and so there's a should, and there's a main category. So people who are 65 and older, and those in long-term care facilities should receive the booster dose of the Pfizer. And then also in the should category is people who are ages 50 to 64 with underlying medical conditions. Now going to the may category, that's people who are 18 to 49 that have underlying medical conditions and people who are 18 to 64, who are at an increased risk of COVID-19 exposure because of their job, those things we just talked about and, um, county public health officer, Dr. Wilma Wooten sorta said, you know, if you're wondering if you're in that may category, if you should get it a good way to decide that as to, you know, have a consultation with your primary care doctor, what about
Speaker 1: (01:54)
People who have received doses of the other available vaccines? Is there any sense of how long approval for booster doses of those shots
Speaker 3: (02:02)
We'll take, if you've had Madonna or Johnson and Johnson officials say you're going to have to wait until their boosters become available. And it's kind of unclear about when that could happen. We know that it's in the works and it's estimated that it could be, you know, a month, two months, maybe three months. So it's coming soon. But yeah, right now officials saying, Hey, if you don't have Pfizer, you're going to have to wait just a little bit, just hang tight.
Speaker 1: (02:21)
What are county officials saying about the recent approval of this?
Speaker 3: (02:26)
You know, they're saying sort of right now, we're in a good position in terms of, you know, we have more than 2.2 million San Diegans that are vaccinated right now. We're not overwhelming the hospital system. We are still seeing some people going there at largely unvaccinated residents who are dying and being hospitalized because of the virus, but sort of that this is a, you know, another tool in the public health tool belt to basically keep from overwhelming the hospital system and keep us on a good path as we try to work our way out of this pandemic. You know, we know that research shows that some of the protection that some of these vaccines have, you know, all vaccines, not just a COVID vaccine, especially in older adults, they sort of wane a little bit. So this is just another, uh, it's really, you know, we call them boosters cause it's a boost to your immunity.
Speaker 1: (03:03)
What are efforts looking like at the county level to distribute booster doses? I mean, it can, we expect to see mass vaccination sites like we saw earlier in the,
Speaker 3: (03:13)
In short, no, we're not expecting to see any mass vaccination sites right now. And basically it's because county officials say, you know, at least at the sites that they operate, they're only operating at about 14% capacity in terms of the giving out vaccinations. So there's plenty of room to grow there and they say that they have plenty of supply. That's definitely not an issue. Something that, you know, we sort of saw, um, in the early goings of, with vaccinations where we saw some of these at-risk groups being vaccinated, you know, some sites running out of doses. That is not an issue right now. Um, one thing to note too, if you are going to go get your booster, uh, officials are asking that you bring your vaccination card or a copy of it. Um, and if you're someone that has underlying medical conditions, um, you might remember before people are saying, do I need to bring paperwork? Do I need to prove it? Um, you don't need to do that. It's going to be self attestation. Um, so you just go and say, you know, I have a heart condition or, or what have you to get your booster dose.
Speaker 1: (04:03)
So where exactly can eligible recipients go to get their COVID booster admitted.
Speaker 3: (04:08)
Uh, so county health officials are saying, you know, to think about pre COVID, where you got your flu shots. Um, so that includes places like pharmacies, you know, CVS, Walgreens, Rite aid, um, also, um, you know, going to your primary care doctor, you know, whether you belong to one of those large healthcare systems or, you know, if you go and get it at a community clinic, um, I will note though that, um, you know, even though they're telling people that, you know, first go to your health system, uh, not everyone is authorizing it yet. And you know, this just came down. Uh, so we know that Rady children's hospital, for example, they are giving it to patients 18 and over, and their employees Palomar health, they are not giving it to patients yet, or employees they're pushing people to go to these county sites. Kaiser, you know, is booking appointments for those who are Kaiser members and those who aren't Kaiser members for the booster doses, Scripps health, for example, they say, they're hoping to shoot for mid next week to start administering booster doses and sharp healthcare as well too.
Speaker 3: (04:58)
They say that they are still in the process of sort of figuring out how they're going to be able to do this. So while the county doesn't plan to open up any of these big sort of vaccination sites, we may see some of these healthcare systems. Um, if you remember, like for instance, the Chula Vista super station that was down at the old Sears in Chula Vista that was run by sharp healthcare with county support. So maybe some of these individual health systems and especially some of the bigger ones like Scripps and sharp, maybe there'll be opening up a, we heard scripts say, you know, there may be looking at the Del Mar fairgrounds to get that going again. So we might see some of these bigger sites, but certainly not ones that are going to be pushed by the county, at least right now, unless demand, you know, really increases
Speaker 1: (05:33)
What are health officials saying about the importance of vaccination ahead of the impending flu season?
Speaker 3: (05:38)
Yeah. And just a note there too. Um, a lot of people are asking, you know, can I get the COVID shot and the flu shot at the same time? Yes you can. Um, and there is some concern about the upcoming flu season, you know, last year, a lot of people, you know, due to pandemic restrictions, they were, you know, staying in their house a lot, not going out and, you know, sporting events than allow people in inside. Uh, but we're seeing a lot of mixing again, you know, a lot of those COVID restrictions are largely gone. A lot of people are taking off their masks and public places. And, you know, somebody who may be healthy, maybe, you know, talking to doctors, they say, you know, if they have COVID and they have the flu separately, it might not be that big of an issue. But then if they get them both at the same time, then that can be even deadly for somebody, uh, who was very healthy. Um, and so doctors are pushing for people to get their flu vaccination by the end of October, uh, to be ready for a potentially early flu season. I've been speaking with
Speaker 1: (06:26)
KPBS health reporter, Matt Hoffman, Matt. Thank
Speaker 3: (06:29)
You. Thanks shade.
