Here's When You Can Get New COVID-19 Vaccine Boosters That Target Omicron In CT

CONNECTICUT — A new COVID-19 booster shot aimed at the omicron variant subvariant was approved by federal health officials and will soon be available in Connecticut.

About 200,000 doses of these updated booster vaccines have been pre-ordered for Connecticut, and will be shipped directly to the providers, according to state Public Health Commissioner Manisha Juthani.

"We estimate that some sites will have the updated booster available by Friday and others just after the Labor Day holiday," Juthani said in a statement released Friday.

These boosters will also be available at local health departments and through the DPH Yellow Van mobile clinics program.

On Thursday, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky endorsed the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ recommendations for use of the updated boosters from Pfizer-BioNTech for people ages 12 years and older and from Moderna for people ages 18 years and older.

Until now, booster doses have targeted the original coronavirus strain. The new "updated boosters," as the Food and Drug Administration calls them, will tweak the existing vaccine produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna to take aim at both the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron subvariants. That's the lineage that is now dominant in the United States and predicted to circulate this fall and winter.

The new boosters are combination, or "bivalent," shots. This means the doses contain half the original vaccine and half the new formula targeting omicron.

The updated shots will be open to anyone who already had their primary vaccinations at least two months before receiving the booster dose.

The United States has purchased more than 170 million doses from the two companies. Pfizer said it could ship up to 15 million doses by the end of next week.

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Officials hope the updated booster dose will help curb another fall and winter infection surge.

"Here in Connecticut, we are in a better place than we were a year ago thanks to the COVID-19 vaccines and boosters which have saved countless lives," Juthani said. "But with the start of the new school year and the onset of the fall season when people begin spending more time indoors, there is no better time to receive this extra level of protection which targets these variants and prevents transmission of this virus."

The big question is just how jab-weary Connecticut residents and the rest of the country are. Half of vaccinated Americans got the first recommended booster dose, and only a third of those 50 and older who were urged to get a second booster did so. In Connecticut, the statistics are better, with well over half the residents age 50 and over have received a second booster.

Connecticut reported 3,479 COVID-19 cases over seven days, a positive test rate of 8.97 percent and 17 new COVID-19 deaths. There were 353 COVID-19 patients in hospitals as of Thursday, which was a net increase of one patient compared with last Thursday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.