An updated COVID-19 vaccination is on its way to local pharmacies and health centers, following a Monday U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval and a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation on Tuesday.
There will be fewer shots headed to the Metro Public Health Department, however. The department ordered just 20 percent of what it did for the last round of updated shots, spokesperson Matthew Peters tells Scene sister publication the Nashville Post.
In September 2022, MPHD ordered 3,000 doses of the then-new bivalent booster shot, and reported slow uptake. According to Tennessee Department of Health data, only 6.34 percent of Tennesseans got the booster. MPHD does not plan for any large-scale vaccination events for the updated shot.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center infectious disease expert William Schaffner tells the Post he is surprised that more members of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted to recommend the vaccines to everyone 6 months an older. Previously, the committee discussed recommendation only for those 65 and older, those who have underlying chronic medical conditions, those who are immunocompromised and pregnant women.
William Schaffner
“The consensus of the discussion was that this is a virus that can put young people — children and young adults who are perfectly healthy — in the intensive care unit,” he says. "If you target people just in the high-risk group you’re going to miss some.”
The recommendation for all those 6 months and older is easier to communicate, Schaffner says.
“A universal recommendation emphasizes equity, and the desire for this committee to make sure that absolutely everybody in this remarkably diverse country is eligible for the vaccine,” Schaffner says.
The latest vaccine formulation will address Omicron subvariant XBB. 1.5. In the time it took to make the vaccine, XBB. 1.5 has somewhat subsided and been replaced by Eris (also known as EG.5) — which became the most dominant strain in August. Both Moderna and Pfizer have said their updated vaccines also help protect against BA.2.86, a subvariant now circulating.
Nashville saw an uptick in COVID-19 concentration in August, which has continued to rise in September, according to wastewater data.
Because the federal public health emergency has ended, the cost burden will fall to the patient and insurance providers for the first time. The Pfizer/BioNTech shot is $120 per dose, while the Moderna formula is available for $129 per dose. However, the CDC has introduced the Bridge Access Program at select providers for adults without health insurance or whose insurance does not cover the COVID-19 vaccine costs. Matthew Walker Comprehensive Care Center, Tennessee Department of Health, University Community Health and Neighborhood Health are slated to receive funds from the program locally, and national pharmacy chains CVS and Walgreens have signed contracts to participate.
Schaffner acknowledges that many have become indifferent to COVID-19. However, such an approach is risky as the virus continues to change and immune protection continues to wane, even for those who have recently been sick.
“We’re on track to having a similar recommendation each fall to get our updated flu vaccine and our updated COVID vaccine,” he says. “Both of these viruses mutate, so we have to update the vaccine. And our immune systems have a tendency to ease off, to forget a little bit. They need the stimulus of an annual reminder to keep us up to date, and to keep our immune systems protecting us from severe disease. That’s what both of these vaccines are intended to do. They’re intended to keep us out of the hospital.”
This article was first published via our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
