Local health expert tells high-risk people to take advantage of new COVID booster shot
Have you gotten the latest COVID-19 booster vaccine? If you did, then you’re in the minority as 4% of Americans have gotten the vaccine so far.
Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland, spoke to WTOP’s Shawn Anderson, saying he believes more people will get the shots with winter approaching.
“The key thing is to make sure that if you’re someone that has any risk factor for severe COVID, that you get that booster as quickly as possible because those are the people that are getting hospitalized. Those are the people that are still dying from COVID,” he said.
You can get the vaccine at your doctor’s office or at local stores and pharmacies. Those with proof of health insurance can get the shot for free.
Last month, the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved this new version of the booster.
The CDC recommends that everyone — especially those who pregnant, 65 and older or immunocompromised — get the vaccine because they’re at greater risk of getting the disease.
Adalja said you can expect to see an increase in COVID-19 cases as the weather gets colder.
“We’re going to see ups and downs with COVID. This is an endemic respiratory virus that’s always going to cause a baseline number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths,” Adalja said. “We just need more high-risk people to take advantage of the booster vaccine.”