Vaccine booster shots available in area as CDC widens eligibility
Many Houstonians will soon have access to a COVID-19 booster shot following a Thursday decision from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to widen eligibility to a vulnerable population, including people with underlying health issues and those who face increased risk of infection from their job.
Certain people with weakened immune systems, such as cancer patients and transplant recipients, already are eligible for a third dose. Now, the CDC says people age 65 years and older, long-term care home residents and people ages 50 to 64 years old with underlying health problems should also receive the booster shot six months after the initial Pfizer series.
People in the 18- to 49-yearold age group with underlying medical conditions also can get the shot, as well as front-line health care workers and others with jobs prone to exposure.
“It’s very comforting to know that we have that extra protection, since we are in the medical field,” said Baylor nurse Liz Bernica, 64, who received her third dose Friday at the Baylor Medicine Vaccine Clinic. “Personally, I do have a condition that puts me at higher risk, so I appreciate that extra layer of protection.”
Baylor College of Medicine was among the first to administer booster shots for its workers on Friday afternoon. Memorial Hermann will offer a third dose at a Saturday morning vaccine clinic at Ross Sterling Middle School in Humble and will offer more doses starting Monday at its walk-in clinics. Houston Methodist will also offer boosters starting Monday.
St. Luke’s Health expects to offer the additional doses as ear
ly as next week but did not release an exact date. Harris Health System will offer boosters for staff next Thursday and is preparing to offer the shots to more eligible people.
A number of CVS Pharmacy locations, including 495 throughout Texas, also began administering Pfizer boosters on Friday, the company announced.
The CDC’s decision opened up additional shots to millions of Americans and represented a new phase in the country’s effort to squelch the coronavirus.
The agency’s guidance came down following days of contentious debate between advisers and American health officials over the need and eligibility requirements for boosters. Some experts worry the push for boosters may cast doubt on the initial doses. Evidence still shows the vaccines are highly effective at preventing severe illness, though Pfizer’s data showed waning immunity over time.
About 64 percent of the country’s eligible population — those 12 and older — is fully vaccinated, and 75 percent have received their first dose. In Texas, 61 percent of the eligible population is fully vaccinated. The vast majority of COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths are among the unvaccinated.
“We will not boost our way out of this pandemic,” warned CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky. A CDC panel had originally excluded front-line health care workers younger than 65 from its recommendation, but Walensky took the rare step of overriding her own advisers.
Dr. Marc Boom, president and CEO of Houston Methodist, was incensed at the panel’s initial decision to exclude health care workers and grateful for Walensky’s move.
“We owe it to those individuals to protect them to the fullest,” he said. “
Picture being a nurse, and you care day in and day out in the ICU for critically ill, intubated patients with COVID … they are knowingly at a much higher risk than the general public.”
He added that additional infections will force more doctors and nurses to quarantine, exacerbating staffing shortages.
Boom said third doses are “strongly encouraged” for staff who received Pfizer’s vaccine but not yet required. Methodist was the nation’s first major health system to require the first series of shots for employees, triggering a lawsuit and the firing or resignation of 153 employees.
He said he expects to mandate a full schedule of doses once additional data becomes available for Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. A booster decision has not been made for people who received those shots.
For now, mixing the Pfizer booster with the initial doses of Moderna and Johnson & Johnson is not recommended, said Kristin Wade, chief operating officer of clinical operations at Baylor College of Medicine. She said researchers are still studying how mixing the shots may affect immune responses.
“Studies are showing that Moderna vaccines aren’t waning as much, so people who got Moderna need to feel very comfortable that they’re still very well covered against serious illness,” said Wade.
Wade, who was fully vaccinated in January, also received her booster shot on Friday. She said the doses are especially important for front-line health care workers because they were among the first to be eligible, and therefore have a greater chance of waning immunity.
“I have relief that I now have moved through the next phase of what I can do to protect me and others,” she said.
Houston-area resident Dan Teel, 66, is eager to become eligible for a booster after he received the Moderna doses. He hopes the company will release more details next month.
He said he has been cautious throughout the pandemic and “feels fine,” despite his diabetes. He is more concerned about people who flout vaccines altogether.
“I know people who won’t take the vaccine and there’s nothing I can say to make any difference, even though they’ve known people who died and I know people who died,” he said.