Revamped COVID Vaccine Booster Arriving Locally

COVID-19 Vaccine

View Photo

Sonora, CA — Doses of the new bivalent COVID-19 vaccine are starting to arrive at local providers and should be available starting next week.

It targets both the original strain of COVID-19 and the Omicron variant.

The FDA authorized emergency use of the Pfizer bivalent booster shot for anyone 12 and over and the Moderna booster just for adults. It must also be at least two months since last receiving a vaccine.

Tuolumne County Public Health Director Michelle Jachetta says, “We started receiving the bivalent Covid vaccine this week, and we (public health), and pharmacies, should have it available by next week.”

Jachetta says the best way to make an appointment is going to myturn.ca.gov. As of this morning, it wasn’t an option yet, but Jachetta recommends people interested keep checking the site throughout next week.

Of note, the booster is only available for people who have completed the original vaccine regimen. Also, children 5-12 are only eligible for the original monovalent booster.

Health officials are encouraging people to consider getting the vaccine booster ahead of the winter months. Covid-19 cases have been dropping in Tuolumne County over recent weeks.

Tuolumne Public Health has switched to monthly health reports and is updating their Covid-19 dashboard weekly. For the week of September 3rd to the 9th there is one new death and 65 new lab-confirmed cases. There are 27 active Covid cases at the Sierra Conservation Center. Tuolumne moved from the high orange community level to the medium yellow level as seen below.