How many COVID boosters should I get?

 

By Kim Marquardt, RN MSN

This blog post is from the Nurse Kim archives of myth busting. I want to share some "alternative" or maybe just lesser known health and wellness viewpoints for you to chew on.

*These posts are not intended as official medical advice.

They ARE meant to be fun, informative, and thought provoking, hopefully sparking an interest for you to do your own research (you can start with the links I provide!) and discover the marvels of the human body, and how it can function at its optimal performance level if we understand how it works and interacts with our environment and our diet.

I have a passion for health and wellness through lifestyle and nutrition and have done thousands of hours of research in addition to being a registered nurse for 23 years. I have done A LOT of self-experimentation in and around diet, lifestyle, body care, and supplementation and have spent a lot of time looking into the science behind it all (or lack thereof!). Check back weekly for the latest post!

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I recently got a fantastic question from a colleague who was wondering…

• What are the current recommendations in and around COVID boosters?
• Should we keep getting boosted every couple months?
• Is it a yearly vaccine now like the flu?
• Are there recommendations for specific age groups?

For some reason this information has seemed to have gotten lost in all the post pandemic noise and scuttle of getting back to our lives and some sort of normalcy.

All great questions… so let’s dig into the official recommendations!

All of this information is available on the CDC Website, so as always, I encourage you to click in and poke around for yourself!

A little blurb about “original” and “updated” vaccines:

Original

Original COVID vaccines were designed to protect against the original virus that caused COVID-19. As of April 18, 2023, the original Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are no longer authorized for use by the FDA in the United States.

Updated

The updated vaccines protect against both the original virus that caused COVID-19 and the latest Omicron variant BA.4 and BA.5. Pfizer and Moderna have both developed updated COVID-19 vaccines.

Boosters:

• Everyone aged 6 and older is considered UP TO DATE with their COVID vaccinations if they have received ONE booster dose after the original series.
• People ≥ 65 (age puts you in the highest risk category for severe illness and hospitalization) may get a 2nd booster dose if they desire.
• People who are moderately or severely immunocompromised may get additional booster doses as well. 
• What does the CDC consider “moderately or severely immunocompromised?” Great question! Some examples they give are:
• People undergoing cancer treatment
• People living with chronic cancers like lymphocytic leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, multiple myeloma, or acute leukemia
• Organ transplant recipients
• Bone marrow transplant recipients (within the last 2 years) 
• Moderate or severe primary autoimmune conditions like DiGeorge syndrome or Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome
• Advanced HIV infection
• Active treatment with high-dose corticosteroids or other biologic agents that are immunosuppressive or immunomodulatory

As you can see, these are very serious conditions. The good news is, you are not considered immune compromised if you have allergies, eczema, diabetes, asthma, or any of the more common everyday health challenges many of us face.

And finally, let’s look at where we are at with regards to COVID stats of survival and hospitalization:

Again, this information is available on the CDC Website if you would like to check it out. The rates below are as of 5/3/2023 for the entirety of the pandemic:

• The overall COVID survival rate in the US for those ≥ 65 is 99.2%
• The overall COVID survival rate in the US for those < 65 is 99.7%
• The overall COVID survival rate in the US for those < 40 is 99.96%
• The overall COVID hospital admission rate for all age groups is 5.9%

Hope this helps answer your questions about boosters! 

Until next week ya’ll!