Updated COVID boosters now available in Plumas

Plumas County residents can now obtain the updated COVID-19 booster vaccines at the Public Health Agency, local healthcare providers, and pharmacies.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) amended the emergency use authorizations Aug. 31 of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine and the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to authorize bivalent formulations of the vaccines for use as a single booster dose at least two months following a primary or booster dose with any authorized or approved monovalent COVID-19 vaccine.

The bivalent vaccines, which are also referred to as “updated boosters,” contain two messenger RNA (mRNA) components of SARS-CoV-2 virus, one of the original strain of SARS-CoV-2 and the other one in common between the BA.4 and BA.5 lineages of the omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2.

The Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent, is authorized for use as a single booster dose in individuals 18 years of age and older. The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent, is authorized for use as a single booster dose in individuals 12 years of age and older. With this most recent authorization, the original monovalent mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are no longer authorized as booster doses for individuals 12 years of age and older. The FDA will work quickly to evaluate future data and submissions to support authorization of bivalent COVID-19 boosters for additional age groups

The Plumas County Public Health Agency offers Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Novavax vaccines and boosters on alternating Thursdays: 9/8/22 and 9/22/22 are Moderna clinics, whereas 9/15/22 and 9/29/22 are Pfizer-BioNTech clinics and Novavax. The same pattern continues into October. Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines are no longer available at Public Health.

COVID-19 vaccines are also available at the below locations for children (5 years and up) and adults. Vaccines for children 6 months old up to 5 years old are only available at Public Health or from your child’s primary care provider at this time in Plumas County.