Booster shots OK’d, state stats support vaccine as effective

McCOOK, Neb. — The Southwest Nebraska Public Health Department has received approval from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services to provide the Moderna and Janssen COVID-19 vaccine boosters recently approved by the FDA. The local providers and pharmacies who are currently giving Moderna or Janssen can now give those doses as well.

Vaccination is not a guarantee, but greatly improves your chance of avoiding hospitalization or death from the COVID-19 virus, according to this week’s report from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

Latest data reported in the state tallied 84,234 cases not fully vaccinated, 10,699 fully vaccinated, 3,403 hospitalizations among patients not fully vaccinated, 301 fully vaccinated, 933 deaths among patients not fully vaccinated and 83 among fully vaccinated.

Some 5,771 variants have been identified among Nebraska residents, 3,826 of them the Delta variant, 1,696 the Alpha.

According to DHHS, individuals who have received the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines are eligible for the booster 6 months or more after their initial series. The individuals must also fall into one of these categories:

• Population that is 65 years or older.

• Ages 18+ who live in Long-term care settings.

• Ages 18+ who have underlying medical conditions.

• Ages 18+ who work or live-in high-risk settings.

Those who had received the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine as their initial COVID-19 vaccination follow the above criteria, except the individuals are recommended to receive the booster 2 or more months after the initial series.

SWNPHD continues to recommend vaccination for ages 12 and older to protect against the ongoing spread of COVID-19 in southwest Nebraska and encourages residents to contact their healthcare provider if they have questions about COVID-19 vaccination.

SWNPHD had 123 new cases of COVID-19 reported from October 19 to October 25, 2021, bringing the weekly average to 107 cases per week in the last 30 days. A breakdown by age includes: 0 to 19 – 17; 20 to 29 – 19; 30 to 39 – 10; 40 to 49 – 19; 50 to 59 – 13; 60 to 69 – 23; 70 to 79 – 14; 80 and over – 8. The total number of cases is 5,034. Vaccination rates across the health district have reached 52.2%, counting both fully vaccinated and partially vaccinated individuals.

Visit swhealth.ne.gov for information on COVID-19. You can also follow SWNPHD on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. SWNPHD serves Chase, Dundy, Frontier, Furnas, Hayes, Hitchcock, Keith, Perkins, and Red Willow counties. SWNPHD is located at 404 West 10th St (1 block north of Arby’s) in McCook and can be reached by calling 308-345-4223.