Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services began giving Pfizer bivalent COVID-19 boosters to children ages 5 to 11 Saturday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated their vaccine recommendations to include this age group last week. This came after the FDA authorized the bivalent Pfizer booster for children ages 5 through 11 years, and the Moderna booster for children and adolescents ages 6 through 17 years.
Trina Teacutter, Nursing Supervisor for the Health Department, said the bivalent booster should be given to children who received their primary COVID-19 vaccines or previous booster shots at least two months ago.
The bivalent booster protects people from the original strain of COVID-19 and the now dominant omicron variant of the disease.
“It's not just about protecting your child, but protecting your child's teacher, or, you know, the grandparents that are going to come to visit for the holidays."Trina Teacutter
“It's not just about protecting your child, but protecting your child's teacher, or, you know, the grandparents that are going to come to visit for the holidays,” Teacutter said. “Kids may not do poorly when they get when they get the disease, but they can they're great at transmitting.”
She said the shots will be available for children ages 5 and up at all vaccination events going forward. She added that flu shots and COVID-19 boosters can be given in the same visit.
“We’re expecting flu season to be pretty significant this year,” Teacutter said. “COVID is similar. We think that we're going to see an increase, again, because people are less likely to mask now. We're more likely to get together.”
Teacutter said the Health Department will have more bivalent booster clinics in the coming weeks, and another comfort clinic for children will be held in November.
You can check for available appointments at https://www.como.gov/covidvaccine/.
