The Georgia Department of Public Health will begin offering the new bivalent COVID-19 booster this week, as shipments of the vaccine arrive in the state.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommend the bivalent booster manufactured by Pfizer for individuals aged 12 and older; and they recommend the bivalent booster by Moderna for adults aged 18 and older.
The current COVID booster doses contain the genetic recipe for the original strain of COVID-19. The bivalent vaccine contains the genetic recipes for two versions of COVID-19; the original strain, plus the omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, offering better protection against the currently circulating COVID-19 variants.People should wait at least two months after completing their initial vaccination or their last booster shot before getting the bivalent booster.
At this time, the bivalent vaccine is considered only a booster. It is not to be used as the initial two-dose COVID vaccine. The monovalent mRNA CVOID-19 vaccines will still be administered for the primary series of vaccine and as a booster for children under the age of 12.
TOO MANY ADS? GO AD-FREE
Did You Know?: The ads you see on this site help pay for our website and our work. However, we know some of our readers would rather pay and not see ads. For those users we offer a paid newsletter that contains our articles with no ads.
What You Get: A daily email digest of our articles in full-text with no ads.
Georgia is currently seeing an average of 3,000 cases of COVID reported a week. More than 89% of newly reported COVID cases are caused by the BA.5 variant. Hospitalizations and deaths from COVID continue to decrease in the state.
In addition to vaccination and boosters, basic prevention measures should also be followed to help prevent further spread of COVID and mitigate outbreaks of infection, especially in public settings: wear a mask, physically distance, and wash your hands frequently with soap and water.
For updates on COVID-19 follow @GaDPH and @GovKemp on Twitter and @GaDPH and @GovKemp on Facebook. For more information on vaccination and boosters, visit https://itsthatsimplega.ga.gov/.
The form you have selected does not exist.
Get More Context: With the barrage of information coming through your social media feeds and phone notifications, it can be hard to get a clear picture of what’s happening in your community and throughout the state. Click here to see what else is happening in The Peach State and get your news in context instead of relying on social media feeds and notifications for your news. We’ll help you stay informed.
