Two trends are noticeable in recent studies: The updated booster offers strong protection against hospitalization in those who get COVID-19, but few people have received the updated booster, according to North Central Public Health District.
If you haven’t gotten your booster yet, but are interested, a free, walk-in, 3-day vaccine clinic will be held next week. It runs from Thursday, Jan. 19 through Saturday, Jan. 21. Hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day, and it will be held at 523 E. 3rd St., which is the former Griffith Motors building, across from Sawyer’s and Grinders Coffee.
No appointment, ID or insurance needed.
The clinic offers primary and booster doses of COVID vaccines, regular flu vaccines and the MPOX vaccine.
Everyone 6 months and older is eligible for the primary or booster doses of COVID, and also for the flu vaccine.
Booster effective
As for the effectiveness of the updated booster, which protects against the original strain of COVID and the omicron variant, a recent large preprint study in the medical journal Lancet found the updated booster reduces the risk of COVID hospitalization by 81% and deaths by 86%.
In raw numbers, the study looked at over 600,000 people 65 and older who belonged to a health service. Of that group, just six people who had the updated booster were hospitalized, compared to 297 people who hadn’t had the updated booster. One person with the bivalent booster died, compared to 73 who did not have the booster.
Only 14 percent of the people in the study had gotten the strongly protective updated booster. In Wasco County, that number stands at 17.1%.
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