Immunocompromised People & Booster Doses
Please contact your healthcare provider if you believe you are in the immunocompromised category and would like the additional COVID vaccination dose.
St. Vincent Health and Lake County Public Health Agency are collaborating to offer future vaccination clinics for booster doses and will publicize clinic dates and times when more information becomes available. The first population to be vaccinated in Lake County was first responders and healthcare workers. It is likely that booster doses for this group will be available in September 2021.
Immunocompromised People:
Currently, the CDC is recommending that moderately to severely immunocompromised people receive an additional vaccine dose. This includes people who have:
- Active treatment for solid tumor and hematologic malignancies
- Receipt of solid-organ transplant and taking immunosuppressive therapy
- Receipt of CAR-T-cell or hematopoietic stem cell transplant (within two years of transplantation or taking immunosuppression therapy)
- Moderate or severe primary immunodeficiency (e.g., DiGeorge syndrome, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome)
- Advanced or untreated HIV infection
- Active treatment with high-dose corticosteroids, alkylating agents, antimetabolites, transplant-related immunosuppressive drugs, cancer chemotherapeutic agents classified as severely immunosuppressive, tumor-necrosis (TNF) blockers, and other biologic agents that are immunosuppressive or immunomodulatory.
An additional mRNA dose following an initial vaccine series is given to people who may not have had a strong enough immune response after receiving the initial vaccine series. A booster dose is a supplemental dose given to groups whose immune response has weakened over time. No booster doses are recommended at this time. This may change as more information becomes available.
Booster Doses: A “booster” dose is defined as a dose of vaccine administered when the initial sufficient immune response to a primary vaccine series is likely to have waned over time.
Booster doses for Non-immunocompromised People: With the circulation of the delta variant and concerning instances of vaccine breakthrough cases, the CDC is recommending a booster dose for vaccinated persons after the 8-month anniversary of their 2nd dose passes. Much like in the early days of vaccine distribution, this booster dose recommendation is likely to begin with residents of long-term care facilities, older adults, and health care workers.
Why get a Booster Dose:
Current COVID-19 vaccinations are proving to be 78% effective in preventing breakthrough COVID cases. The additional dose may bolster a person’s immune defenses against COVID-19.
Federal health officials indicate that vaccines lose their protective powers against mild to moderate disease over time and may not work as well against the Delta variant as they did against the previous strains.
The booster dose is the same dose as given in the two-shot regimen. The extra dose mobilizes your body’s immune system defenses further to protect against Covid-19, especially variants such as Delta that are better at eluding vaccine-generated protection.
