Southern Nevada Residents 12 and Older Can Get a COVID-19 Booster Shot

Author: Nevada Globe Staff

LAS VEGAS – Southern Nevada residents aged 12 and older can now receive a booster dose of the newly developed COVID-19 vaccination, which, according to health officials, is different from earlier COVID-19 vaccines.

Drugstores and health centers in the Southern Nevada Health District provide access to the booster.

“This is the first new formulation of the vaccine since December of 2020,” Dr. Christina Madison, CEO of The Public Health Pharmacist, said.

As many as five doses of the COVID vaccination have been administered to certain southern Nevadans aged 50 and up in a little over two years. Madison assured us that it was fine to do so once the specified amount of time had gone between injections.

The new vaccine is optimized to ward off not just the original viral strain but also the widely spread omicron subvariant BA.5.

According to Madison, “it’s more likely to be like our annual flu vaccination,” which undergoes annual formulation modifications to protect against the next season’s most likely circulating strain of the virus.

Experts advise getting the flu shot this month, and according to Madison, it’s fine to get the new booster at the same time.

Madison has responded to those who have asked why they need the new booster if they have already had at least one by saying that it is equally as vital for that group.

According to Madison, “even if you got the last booster, that vaccine was still the monovalent vaccine,” which is only effective against the virus strain for which it was developed.

Madison argued that the same reasoning holds true even if your case of COVID was mild. She cautioned that your response might change if you ever caught a different strain.

The new bivalent vaccine will be given out to anybody who comes in for a booster shot from now on.

It was superior to the other vaccine, and now we would only use the older vaccine as a backup. Now you know what to do if you haven’t gotten your first or second dose,” Madison said.

Further supporting the comparison to the yearly flu vaccination is the fact that health professionals predict it will be nine months to a year before another booster is released.

Credit: Fox5Vegas