Montco's Immunocompromised Will Soon Receive 3rd Vaccine Dose

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA — The third booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine will soon be available through Montgomery County's existing clinics, officials said this week.

The announcement comes as the Pennsylvania Department of Health said that they would begin distributing the third booster following the updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The exact timeline remains unclear, although the county said Tuesday that they were working on it. The third dose will only be available for the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, as the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine has not yet received approval for another dose.

In Pennsylvania, the third booster will only be for immunocompromised individuals. As of this week, the FDA is not recommending the third shot for any other groups.

According to the CDC, 77.60 percent of Montgomery residents 12 and older have received at least one dose of vaccine.

To date, 560,090 total doses have been administered in the county, enough to fully vaccinate 420,072 people and partially vaccinate 58,455 others.

However, the prevalence of the delta variant has also meant a rise in new cases. Montgomery County is designated as an area of high spread by the CDC, and the positivity rate ticked up to 4.58 percent this week, the highest in months.

Montgomery County's vaccines remain free and available through several clinics around the area. See here for more information and learn how to sign up.