PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — While COVID-19 hospitalizations have fallen for the third winter in a row, health officials are still encouraging people to get their booster shots.
“The boosters do work,” said Dr. Cheryl Bettigole, Philadelphia health commissioner. “Not nearly enough people, especially not nearly enough seniors, have gotten their boosters.”
Bettigole said Philadelphians did well getting their primary Covid vaccinations, but numbers dropped significantly when it came to getting boosters and, specifically, for people of color.
She says the health community is still fighting vaccine misinformation and stresses there are no long-term side effects from it.
“From the vaccines, no. From COVID, certainly.”
Bettigole added that, while everyone should receive a bivalent booster shot, the latest Covid booster available that helps protect you from two strains of the virus, there is extra emphasis on older people.
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“But, particularly, if you are over 65 or if you're over 50 and you have any kind of a chronic condition that puts you at higher risk – that includes carrying extra weight, which is most of us in Philadelphia.”
People can get their booster as long as it's been two months since their last dose.
Bettigole says another way to keep the virus at bay is to stay home if you are sick.
“If you have a cold or an upper respiratory bug – whether or not it's Covid – sick equals stay home.”
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She added that people should stock up on at-home Covid tests while they can.
“You could have a nice little stash there so that when the free tests go away and you have to start paying for them, you have a supply,” Bettigole explained.
“We all know we're much more likely to do a test if we have a little bit of a sore throat or a stuffy nose if they're sitting in your house than if you would have to go out and get them.”
People can request free, at-home tests here until March.