If you feel confused by the list of COVID-19 vaccines and boosters out there, you are not alone.
“It’s very confusing right now,” Dr. Joe Kanter, Louisiana State Health Officer, told WWL’s Newell Normand this week. “Confusing for even for me.”
“Well, if it’s confusing to you, we’re all in trouble,” said Normand. Kanter agreed.
“I’ll tell you, you know, pharmacies have to have six or seven different types of COVID vaccine and booster,” he said. “All the vials look a little bit different based on what age you are, if it’s your booster or initial shot and so forth. So, all of that is ripe to be simplified.”
He mentioned a meeting last week of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that could be a sign of the vaccine landscape becoming less confusing. During that meeting, panelists agreed that COVID-19 vaccines offered in the future should be the bivalent shots developed to protect against the omicron variant.
Kanter explained that COVID vaccination could then move to become an annual shot, much like the flu shot. It could also be reformulated each year to address the most prevalent variant or variants.
“It’s where we need to go,” he said. “And I was happy to see the FDA publicly signal that last week.”
One caller told Kanter and Normand that she had received five Moderna COVID-19 vaccine shots and a flu shot. However, she tested positive for influenza A shortly after getting that shot.
“My belief is if I hadn’t had all those vaccines… the vaccine and injections of medicine and the flu shot, I would have been much, much sicker,” she said. “Would you address that?”
Kanter confirmed that this is the case and added that, because so many variants of the flu circulate, people can still catch the virus even if they are vaccinated.
“The hope is that whatever other strands come up, that they’re also a good match for the vaccine,” he said.
Listen to Kanter and Newell discuss the COVID-19 situation in New Orleans ahead of Mardi Gras and more here.
Related
