It may be time for some Marylanders to get another coronavirus vaccine if they fall into specific vulnerable populations that are susceptible to deadly COVID-19 symptoms.
The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will announce the availability of a second bivalent booster shot in the coming weeks.
Bivalent boosters protect against older variations of COVID-19 and newer Omicron versions as well. The first bivalent boosters were recommended last fall.
This newest booster won’t be available until the FDA and CDC fully recommend it. It also won’t be necessary for everyone.
Dr. Leana Wen, former Baltimore City health commissioner and professor of public health at George Washington University, says the CDC will likely only recommend the booster for older people, people who are immunocompromised and those who have severe comorbidities like heart disease or kidney failure.
“We have seen that health officials in Canada and the United Kingdom have already authorized these second boosters for those populations,” Wen said. “For those individuals, having an additional booster is something that they have already been seeking.”
The CDC already recommends that nearly everyone gets a bivalent booster once a year.
The United States is ending its national emergency declaration on COVID-19 in May, however, Wen said that doesn’t mean Americans should let their guard down.
Wen said the disease is now endemic, meaning it’s part of daily life, and therefore citizens need to build COVID precautions into their routines.
About 1,700 people in the U.S. died from COVID-19 in the last week, according to the CDC.