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Portland-area pharmacies have begun scheduling appointments for Omicron booster shots following federal approval of a vaccine targeting the latest subvariants of COVID-19.
The Oregon Health Authority announced Thursday evening that doses of the mRNA bivalent boosters have begun arriving in Oregon, with larger shipments landing after the holiday weekend. The booster is designed to target the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of the Omicron variant of COVID.
Oregon has ordered 77,500 doses of the booster, says OHA spokesman Rudy Owens. At least some of those shipments have arrived in the state, Owens tells WW, with more expected starting Tuesday. He expects the full order of 77,500 doses to land in Oregon within the week.
“There were two waves of preorders before Aug. 30,” Owens says. “We expect that supply will meet demand and will be available starting after the Labor Day weekend.”
The booster still needs formal approval by a coalition of Western states, including Oregon, that pledged to individually evaluate vaccine safety. But pharmacies such as Walgreens have already begun scheduling appointments for the coming week. OHA says it will open three large booster sites next week. It has yet to announce the locations.
“With fall and winter approaching with circulation of COVID-19 anticipated to increase, when most of us will spend more time indoors, the availability of safe and effective vaccine boosters offers us strong protection against the worst outcomes of COVID-19, including severe illness, hospitalizations and death,” said state epidemiologist Dean Sidelinger in a statement.
The Food and Drug Administration recommends the booster for people who haven’t had a shot—or contracted COVID—for at least two months. Experts told The Washington Post that the new shot should be more effective than previous vaccines against the dominant Omicron strains, but “the proof is in the pudding.”
