Mid-Missouri pharmacies, health care providers offer new COVID-19 booster
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
Nine Boone County pharmacies and health care providers are among those that preordered doses of the new COVID-19 vaccine tailored to omicron variants.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services released a list Friday of providers across the state that would have the booster shots available within the next week. The Boone County providers are:
- Boone Hospital Center
- Burrell Pharmacy
- Columbia-Boone County Department of Health
- D&H Drug Store on Broadway and Paris
- Kilgore's Medical Pharmacy on Providence and Chapel Hill
- the Mizzou Student Health Center
- University Hospital
Capital Region Medical Center and the Community Health Center of Central Missouri are offering the shot in Cole County.
Federal regulators authorized the bivalent COVID-19 boosters this week. The boosters are meant to provide extra protection against two dominant omicron subvariants. The Pfizer/BioNTech shot is available to people 12 and older and the Moderna shot is available to those 18 and older.
State Epidemiologist Dr. George Turabelidze encouraged everyone who is eligible to get the booster.
“We encourage those who are eligible to receive this new booster dose as it will greatly help protect individuals from the variant most commonly detected today and for the past several months,” he said in a news release. “As we head into the fall and winter months, this added protection becomes even more important since viruses generally tend to circulate at a more rapid pace during this time.”
The state health department said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expects to recommend the updated booster for younger people in the coming weeks. The boosters are available two months after taking the initial series of COVID-19 vaccination shots.
The state released updated community COVID-19 levels on Friday. No Mid-Missouri counties were in the "high" community level, which includes cases and hospitalizations. Audrain and Montgomery counties were in the low-level category. Hospitalizations also continued their downward trend.
