38 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • NOVEMBER 2021
MANY LONG ISLANDERS ELIGIBLE FOR BOOSTERS
continued from page 37
If you received a Pfi zer or Moderna
vaccine originally and your second dose
was administered at least six months
ago, you are eligible for a booster if you
are age 65 or older or if you are younger
than 65 but have a health condition or
a job that puts you at increased risk
for Covid-19. Notably, the Moderna
booster is half the strength of one
of the previous Moderna doses.
In the case of the one-dose J&J vaccine,
a booster is recommended for anyone
age 18 or older who had their original
dose at least two months ago. This
recommendation was based on J&J
data that shows a second dose boosts
protection against symptomatic
Covid-19 infection from 72% to 94%.
“While the mRNA Pfi zer and Moderna
vaccines continue to be very eff ective
at preventing severe illness at the
six-month mark, it has become increasingly
clear that their eff ectiveness at
preventing overall illness has begun to
wane,” said David Hirschwerk, M.D., an
infectious disease specialist and the executive
vice chair of medicine for North
Shore University Hospital in Manhasset
and Long Island Jewish Medical Center
in New Hyde Park. “Now that we have
more information from studies from
around the world, we need to act on it.
That’s where the recommendations have
come from. We are continuing to follow
the data that emerges as time goes on for
a pandemic that has only been around
for a short time, even though it feels like
a long time.”
If you are eligible for a booster, you
are advised to get it.
“We know that the elderly and people
with certain underlying conditions
have increased risk of developing
more severe illness,” Dr. Hirschwerk
said. “The current strain of the virus
is very contagious, and there’s still a
lot of it circulating in our community.
It’s important to be mindful of that.”
If you had two doses of an mRNA vaccine,
“by six months you are probably
at a higher risk of developing a new
primary infection compared to the fi rst
month aft er you were fully vaccinated,”
said Alan Bulbin, M.D., director of infectious
diseases at St. Francis Hospital in
Roslyn. “You have a greater chance of
progressing to hospitalization, critical
illness and death if you fall into an at-risk
category for severe illness.”
There is some controversy over why
the general population is not yet being
off ered an mRNA vaccine six months
aft er their second dose.
“Although we have seen waning eff ectiveness,
two doses still hold up really
well against severe illness,” Dr. Bulbin
said. “The fact that the vaccines are
still holding up against critical disease
makes it a little tough to recommend
that the entire population get a booster”
when so many higher-risk members of
the population need boosters and many
other individuals have not yet received
their fi rst vaccination, he said.
Dr. Hirschwerk said booster eligibility will
likely be broadened beyond the current priority
groups in the “somewhat near future.”
“That conversation is already happening
at the FDA,” he said.
In mid-October, the FCA authorized
mixing and matching of vaccines. So
if you had, say, the J&J vaccine the fi rst
time, you can opt for a Pfi zer or Moderna
booster this time around.
"The elderly and people
with certain underlying
conditions have increased
risk of developing more
severe illness,"
said Dr. David Hirschwerk.
PRESS HEALTH
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
