Second booster rollout begins on Long Island
U.S. regulators have authorized a second booster dose for a significant new group of people, including adults 50 and up. Credit: AP/Charles Krupa
Long Islanders 50 and older began receiving their second COVID-19 booster at select pharmacies Wednesday, while the shots should be available within a few days at a host of additional locations, including hospitals and more drugstores, officials said.
The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday authorized an extra dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine for Americans in that age group who received their original booster at least four months ago.
An additional shot is also available for individuals who are moderately or severely immunocompromised, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in its updated recommendations, added adults who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for both their primary dose and booster at least four months ago.
The new authorization comes amid the continued spread of the highly transmissible BA.2 omicron subvariant, which has rapidly become the dominant source of new cases both locally and across the nation.
Rite Aid, which has nearly two dozen locations in Nassau and Suffolk counties, said eligible customers were permitted to walk-in or schedule an appointment at its stores on Wednesday. Walgreens said it was accepting walk-in patients at some of its locations Wednesday while scheduled appointments would begin Friday.
“With COVID-19 cases on the rise and vaccine immunity waning over time, older adults and those who are immunocompromised are at an increased risk for severe disease from COVID-19,” said Kevin Ban, chief medical officer at Walgreens, in a statement. “Vaccines and boosters are effective at reducing the risk of infection and preventing hospitalization and death, but more than half of eligible Americans have not yet gotten the recommended first booster shot."
Second booster shots will be available "soon" at CVS pharmacies, said company spokeswoman Amy Thibault, who declined to elaborate.
"We’ve maintained an ample supply of vaccine at each of our more than 9,000 vaccinating pharmacies and are well-positioned to be able to provide them for eligible patients," Thibault said in a statement.
Health professionals have said protection against the virus may be waning months after the first booster. Concerns have also grown about BA.2, which is considered more contagious, though not more dangerous, than the earlier omicron strain.
Dr. Bruce Farber, chief of public health and epidemiology for Northwell Health, said on Wednesday that second boosters will be administered "in the next day or two," while Bruce Polsky, chairman of medicine and an infectious diseases specialist at NYU Langone Hospital-Long Island, said "preparations are being made" to administer the second booster shot.
"I anticipate we will be offering it soon," said Polsky. "It shouldn't be long."
State Health Department officials said they are updating their COVID-19 vaccination program guidance and the information will be sent to providers later this week.
The waning of federal pandemic funds does not appear to have had an immediate impact on distribution plans for the second booster.
President Joe Biden's request for lawmakers to allocate $22.5 billion for pandemic relief appears to have stalled in Congress, prompting some locations to no longer provide free testing for the uninsured, according to administration officials.
Funding to provide free vaccines to the uninsured and for monoclonal antibody treatments to keep infected individuals out of the hospitals could be on the line next, officials have said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has expressed concern about what the funding stalemate could mean when it comes to funding boosters and medical treatments, as well as keeping schools and businesses open.
"Should BA. 2 follow the trajectory of omicron, ensuring our residents have access to an additional booster will be a critical component of our response," Hochul wrote in a letter to the state's congressional delegation that her office released on Tuesday. "Without additional federal funding, access to this necessary tool may be limited. COVID has proven time and time again to be unpredictable, wreaking havoc over red and blue states alike."
Biden, who received his second booster Wednesday, said "without funding, we're not going to be able to sustain the testing capacity beyond the month of June. And if we fail to invest, we leave ourselves vulnerable if another wave of the virus hits."
The state's positivity rate continued to gradually tick up Tuesday, with a seven-day average of 2.4%, according to the Health Department. Long Island's infection rate inched up to 2.6% with 195 new cases in Nassau and 130 in Suffolk, officials said. There were six COVID deaths statewide Tuesday, including two in Suffolk.
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Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.
