New COVID boosters are coming to Middle Georgia. Here’s when they could arrive

The Georgia Department of Public Health will offer a new, recently approved COVID-19 boosters in the coming weeks.

Michael Hokanson of the North Central Health District said the new boosters could arrive this week, but the districts don’t have exact dates. The NCHD is the local arm of the state health department and covers 13 Middle Georgia counties.

“We unfortunately are not in control of the logistics there,” Hokanson said about the distribution of the vaccines. “We were told it would be this week, however we have not received them at this point. It may be next week at the earliest, but we can’t be sure.”

The new vaccines are offered by Pfizer and Moderna and contain the genetic recipes of both the original COVID-19 strand and the omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5. The Pfizer booster is only recommended for those 12 and older, while the Moderna booster is only for adults.

“The ages will have some impact on the amount of vaccines that are available once they arrive, but it will still depend on how many we receive once they are distributed,” Hokanson said.

The new boosters target the more recent subvariants of the omicron variant of COVID-19, according to the DPH. The original vaccines that were made public in 2021 defend only against the base strand of COVID-19, while the new bivalent boosters are meant to protect against the variants that are now most commonly seen.

“We are hoping this will work against what is in our communities, and it’s something we will keep a close eye on,” Hokanson said. “Information is always changing.”

To schedule a COVID-19 vaccine, visit vaccines.gov.