October 5, 2022
COVID-19 seems to be settling down, with fewer positive cases and hospitalizations in Alabama, but that doesn’t mean we can relax just yet. It is still important for people to get vaccinated and boosted against the virus.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in August authorized updated (bivalent) COVID-19 booster shots for people who are at least two months out from their last COVID-19 shot, whether it was the primary vaccine series or the monovalent booster. In September, University Medical Center in Tuscaloosa began offering Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 bivalent boosters.
Bivalent vaccines work by stimulating an immune response against two different viruses, or two different strains of a virus. The bivalent COVID-19 boosters, also referred to as updated boosters, contain two messenger RNA components of the SARS-CoV-2 virus – one of the original strains of SARS-CoV-2 and the other one in common between the BA.4 and BA.5 lineages of the Omicron variant.
Data from the COVID-19 bivalent booster shows that the booster provides protection from the Omicron BA.5 strains that are currently circulating. Keep in mind that once you have received the bivalent booster, it typically takes one to two weeks for it to fully take effect.
There is another reason why it is important for people to be protected against COVID-19, especially ahead of the fall and winter. Health officials are concerned about the potential of a severe flu season this year.
We have experienced decreased rates of flu during the past several years, driven in part by many of the mitigation strategies that were in place for COVID-19. And that has led to a drop in the number of people vaccinated against the flu. With decreased levels of population immunity, it raises the concern that we might have a larger flu challenge this year.
A flu shot is the best way to protect yourself from the flu. University Medical Center is providing flu shots for our patients, and we are offering free flu shots to University of Alabama students, faculty and staff at pop-up sites across campus throughout the fall.
We want to protect our patients and the UA campus from COVID-19 and the flu because keeping communities healthy is our mission.
