COVID-19 Booster Plan Unveiled; Doses To Be Available Mid-Sept.

OCEANSIDE, NY — The federal government officially announced on Wednesday plans for the full distribution for a booster third COVID-19 shot. It would be for all Americans eight months after the second injection.

The extra vaccine is only for people who received the Pfizer and Moderna two-dose series. No guidance was given at this time for people who were given Johnson & Johnson's single vaccination.

"The most important thing is for the people who haven't been vaccinated," Dr. Aaron Glatt, Chief of Infectious Diseases, Mount Sinai South Nassau, told Patch.

The priority, thereafter, Glatt said, should be people who are immunocompromised and did not respond well to the initial doses. New York followed the CDC's recommendation on Monday.

That would lead to the remainder of the general public getting their booster to protect against waning COVID-19 immunity, Glatt said.

While the US said the additional vaccine would be ready by mid-September, the exact rollout plan is still being worked on. But Glatt doesn't anticipate the state's pop-up sites will reopen.

"I think people can get it any place," he said.

Whether this booster shot will become an annual vaccination as we have for influenza, "Ask me that a year from now and I'll tell you," Glatt hedged his bet.

For now, efficacy data, primarily from Israel and other countries, indicates the need for dose number three. Health officials are also monitoring the vaccine for its safety.

"Since we know that the first and second doses are very safe, it's enough to suggest that the third dose probably will not have any additional long-term consequences," Glatt said.

The main reason for the COVID-19 booster shot is because of the Delta variant running rampant in the country. Nearly all cases and hospitalizations are among the anti-vaccinated.

"I think that plays a tremendous role in why Delta has been so widespread and it's able to spread so rapidly, easily to the unvaccinated population, and since it's so contagious it can spread even to a small amount of the vaccinated population," Glatt said.

Even though the data is overwhelmingly encouraging for avoiding serious illness by getting the vaccine, many still refuse to take the shot.

"They're dead set against vaccinations, for whatever their incorrect medical thinking is. I don't think we'll ever be able to convince them," Glatt said. "I'm hoping we can convince the much larger percentage of unvaccinated people, who are straddling the fence. It's that group of people that we need to constantly remind them of what the facts are."