Covid Shots Clarified
Sep. 15th, 2023 08:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerLast week I complained that it's not really clear what's going on with Covid right now. Well, while meaningful, comprehensive measures of disease activity and risk are still unavailable ("unavailable" meaning deliberately defunded, removed, and/or barred by government hijacked by disinformation peddlers and conspiracy theorists at multiple levels) we at least now have clarity on who should get another shot of the Covid vaccine and when it will be available.
The FDA on Monday approved the boosters formulated for the XBB.1.5 subvariant. Example news coverage: NBC News article, 11 Sep 2023. There's a two-step dance between the FDA and the CDC in the US. The FDA determines it's safe, then the CDC issues recommendations or guidelines on who should get it. The UK's NHS recently issued very narrow guidelines, recommending the shot only for persons aged 65+ or working in high-risk environments or with severe illness. Thus it was a bit surprising when the CDC came out on Tuesday with a broad recommendation that everyone over 6 months old get the booster. Example news coverage: Washington Post article, 12 Sep 2023.
Furthermore, to the question of when is it available, the answer is almost immediately. CVS Pharmacy evidently had good contingency plans for this positive decision and announced it would have shots available at 1000s of its pharmacies this week. Other pharmacy chains should follow soon. I will likely get the shot in October and pair it with a flu shot.
The FDA on Monday approved the boosters formulated for the XBB.1.5 subvariant. Example news coverage: NBC News article, 11 Sep 2023. There's a two-step dance between the FDA and the CDC in the US. The FDA determines it's safe, then the CDC issues recommendations or guidelines on who should get it. The UK's NHS recently issued very narrow guidelines, recommending the shot only for persons aged 65+ or working in high-risk environments or with severe illness. Thus it was a bit surprising when the CDC came out on Tuesday with a broad recommendation that everyone over 6 months old get the booster. Example news coverage: Washington Post article, 12 Sep 2023.
Furthermore, to the question of when is it available, the answer is almost immediately. CVS Pharmacy evidently had good contingency plans for this positive decision and announced it would have shots available at 1000s of its pharmacies this week. Other pharmacy chains should follow soon. I will likely get the shot in October and pair it with a flu shot.
