In just a little over a month, a new COVID-19 vaccine is expected to be available. It could represent the first in annual fall vaccinations.
Federal Food and Drug Administration approval of the new vaccine is anticipated. Ryan Babb is a pharmacist manager at UK. Babb said the previous injection for coronavirus was bivalent, which covered the original strains and those variants that followed.
“This new mono-valent one will just have the strain, it’s x-b-b.1.5. It will be solely focused on that strain,” said Babb.
Babb expects eligibility for the new COVID vaccine to be wide open this fall. And although children may be back in the classroom well before it becomes available, Babb suggests those students get the vaccine.
“Even if it’s not out until September, you still have October, November, December, January, February where these children are in school and staying inside, doing inside activities with other children. Those colder months and it can definitely spike the spread during those times,” said Babb.
Babb said good hand hygiene is another key factor in slowing all kinds of disease spread. The UK pharmacist anticipates an annual fall COVID shot along with an annual flu vaccine. A slight surge in COVID cases is occurring currently in some areas of the country. Fayette County Health Department Spokesman Kevin Hall said a small increase has been seen locally, but hospitalizations have continued to go down since January.
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