Don’t let the Covid-19 Grinch steal your holidays. With the rate of infection on the rise in Tennessee and many other states, the best gift you can give yourself and others is additional protection from the virus with a booster shot.
Now, everyone ages 18 or older is eligible to receive a booster. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends boosters for all adults who received a primary series of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine, or a single dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Studies have shown that after receiving primary COVID vaccinations, protection against the virus decreases over time.
Many VUMC employees were vaccinated more than 10 months ago and are now booster eligible.
For those who received the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the CDC recommends boosters 6 months from completing the primary series, while those who received the single shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine can get a booster as soon as two months after their shot.
Boosters can be mixed and matched. For example, even if you received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, you can get a single shot of any of the other authorized brands as a booster.
Information about where you can receive a booster is available through Vanderbilt Health. Nearby locations where you can get a booster can also be found through Vaccines.gov.
If you area a VUMC employee who received a booster already but did so at an outside healthcare provider such as Walgreens, Occupational Health requests that you upload the record of your booster into their secure “COVID-19 Vaccine Self Report” tool on the Occupational Health website.
