All Wisconsinites older than 5 years now are eligible to receive the updated omicron booster shots to protect against COVID-19.
The shots were approved for younger age groups by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control on Wednesday.
Before then, the new shots — which provide updated protection against the highly contagious omicron variant of COVID-19 — were only approved for people ages 12 and up, pending additional data specific to younger children.
The updated boosters are recommended for people who have completed their primary series of shots and have not received a COVID-19 vaccine (including the previous booster shots) in the past two months.
They are safe to get at the same time as the flu shot.
“Fall has arrived and the holiday season will soon be here, and this means more of us will gather indoors in homes and other spaces in closer contact with others,” said state Department of Health Services Secretary-designee Karen Timberlake. “We encourage all Wisconsinites to make plans to boost their own and their loved ones’ protection against COVID-19.”
Health experts have found children are generally at lower risk of developing severe COVID-19 than adults. But major complications can still occur. One of those is a rare but serious condition called multisystem inflammatory syndrome, which can cause inflammation of the heart, lungs, brain and other organs.
Wisconsin has seen 200 cases of this complication and one death, according to DHS data. Vaccines provide the best protection against multisystem inflammatory syndrome, state health officials said Thursday.
“Staying up to date with COVID-19 vaccines can protect kids against the serious outcomes of COVID-19 such as MIS-C, long COVID, hospitalization and death,” said Stephanie Schauer, program manager for DHS’ Division of Public Health Immunization.
The new Pfizer booster is available for people 5 and older and the new Moderna booster for those 6 and older.
The old boosters are no longer available for people 5 and older.
There are four vaccines approved in the U.S. for the primary series. The two-shot Pfizer and Moderna series are available to anyone 6 months and older. The two-shot primary series for Novavax is available for people 12 years and older. The Johnson and Johnson vaccine is approved for those 18 and older.
The Moderna and Pfizer omicron boosters are available after any of those primary sets of shots.
The vaccines are available at no out-of-pocket cost. Visit vaccines.gov to find out where they’re available.
The booster shots are tweaked versions of the original vaccines, adding protection against the BA.4 and BA.5 subtypes of the omicron variant that overtook the other virus mutations to make up a majority of COVID-19 cases worldwide.
As of Oct. 8, CDC data shows BA.5 makes up nearly 80% of COVID-19 infections nationwide, and BA.4.6 makes up more than 13%.
Resources
For information on where to find a vaccine, visit vaccines.gov.
For free, confidential support finding health care and community resources near you, dial 211.
For information on vaccine safety and more, visit www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/covid-19/vaccine.htm
Contact Devi Shastri at 414-224-2193 or DAShastri@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @DeviShastri.
