The new COVID-19 booster shot providing greater protection against the omicron variants should be available in Douglas County by the end of the week.
Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health is planning to re-open its LMH Health drive-thru clinic and take walk-ins this weekend for anyone who has not received a COVID-19 shot within the past two months.
The vaccination schedules may change depending on shipment delays. All vaccine updates will be posted on Public Health’s website and social media pages.
“The state system has said deliveries are scheduled the week of the 12th. Generally when they’ve told us that, typically deliveries arrive by Wednesday or Thursday. So we are pretty comfortable scheduling clinics on Friday or Saturday,” Public Health spokesman Daniel Smith said.
The boosters are free, and insurance status will not affect a person’s ability to get the vaccine. Those ages 18 years and older are eligible for the updated Moderna vaccine, while those 12 and older are eligible for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The new version of the booster will replace the prior versions going forward.
Mobile clinics will also return, with a plan to bring a truck to offer the updated boosters and flu shots during the morning of EudoraFest, said Charlie Bryan, who has overseen previous COVID-19 vaccine rollouts for Public Health.
Samuel Glennon, chief pharmacist of AuBurn Pharmacy, said he expects to begin administering shots next month.
“It may come this week. It may not. Just to be conservative, I think we will start giving shots at the beginning of October,” Glennon said.
Glennon said patients who want to get vaccinated at AuBurn Pharmacy should call first and see which of the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech boosters are available. An appointment schedule is now available online here.
At Eudora Family Care, booster shots are expected to be available next week, LMH Health pharmacy director Chris Lawrenz said.
National pharmacy chains, like CVS and Walgreens, do not share the same vaccine distribution protocol as Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health. Bryan said he encourages residents who plan to receive their vaccine from such pharmacies to check company websites for information.
Both Lawrenz and Bryan said strain-specific modifications to the COVID-19 vaccine may become routine.
“It will probably be treated like a flu shot in the future,” Lawrenz said.
Bryan and Smith said they encourage everyone eligible to receive the covid booster and the flu shot as soon as possible.
Australia, which experiences its flu season from April to October and is treated by the United States as the harbinger for the year’s most prevalent flu virus strains, has reported a particularly hard flu season, Lawrenz said.
“I think that is why there’s so much pressure to get everyone vaccinated as quickly as possible and as appropriately as possible,” she said.
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