MARQUETTE — Confused about COVID-19 booster shots? You probably are not alone.

The Marquette County Health Department has acknowledged that confusion has arisen regarding booster shots and additional doses of COVID-19 vaccine for fully vaccinated people.

It said the FDA, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the CDC’s independent Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recently reviewed current data regarding vaccination effectiveness in moderately to severely immunocompromised individuals.

Based on the review of current data, these groups have recommended a third dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine to be administered to moderately to severely immunocompromised individuals who already have completed a two-dose mRNA vaccine.

The MCHD will provide additional Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines for these populations based upon self-certification of at least one of these conditions:

≤ active treatment for solid tumor and hematologic malignancies.

≤ receipt of solid-organ transplant and taking immunosuppressive therapy.

≤ receipt of CAR-T-cell or hematopoietic stem cell transplant within two years of transplantation or taking immunosuppression therapy.

≤ moderate or severe primary immunodeficiency.

≤ advanced or untreated HIV infection.

≤ active treatment with high-dose corticosteroids, alkylating agents, antimetabolites, transplant-related immunosuppressive drugs, cancer chemotherapeutic agents classified as severely immunosuppressive, tumor-necrosis blockers and other biologic agents that are immunosuppressive or immunomodulatory.

To schedule an additional dose of Pifer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine, call 906-475-7844. Moderately or severely immunocompromised individuals may seek a third dose through a primary care provider.

The MCHD said that President Joe Biden’s administration has recommended that all citizens who have completed a two-dose mRNA vaccine series receive a third booster dose regardless of immunocompromised status.

The MCHD pointed out that there is no official review of sufficient data to strongly support the benefits of a booster dose to non-immunocompromised individuals in the general population. So, MCHD will not administer a third dose to these individuals following a complete two-dose series.

However, it will administer a third dose to the general population following a CDC and ACIP recommendation to do so.

Considerations include:

≤ A patient’s clinical team is best positioned to determine the degree of immune compromise and appropriate timing of vaccination.

≤ The additional dose should be the same vaccine product as the individual two-dose series.

≤ A person should not receive more than three COVID-19 vaccine doses.

≤ The additional dose should be administered at least 28 days after the completion of the initial two-dose series.

≤ Serologic testing or cellular immune testing is not recommended at this time.

≤ There is insufficient data to support the use of an additional dose after Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen single-dose COVID-19 vaccination series in immunocompromised people.

≤ The clinical benefit of an additional dose vaccine in immunocompromised people is not known.

What is known

The MCHD stressed that vaccinated people are well protected from COVID-19.

“COVID-19 is a virus we need to learn to live with while respecting it and taking appropriate precautions,” said Dr. Bob Lorinser, medical director of the MCHD, in a news release.

The virus, he said, is not going away in September, and it might not even go away with immunization rates of 85%.

“I believe this virus will stay with us for years,” Lorinser said.

The social, psychological and economic adverse effects of the pandemic are extensive, he said.

“Wide acceptance of the vaccine can address all of these issues,” he said. “I believe the best path forward is vaccinations for all who are eligible.”

Per the CDC, as of Aug. 2, more than 164 million people in the United States have been fully vaccinated, and only 5,285 were hospitalized because of COVID-19 for a rate of 30 per million. There were 1,191 deaths for a rate 7 per million.

“I like those odds,” Lorinser said. “Would you please get vaccinated?”

Sault Tribe hosts clinics

COVID-19 booster shots will be available through Sault Tribe hosted COVID-19 vaccination clinics. At this time, booster shots are recommended for immunocompromised patients along with those who live with or are in regular contact with them.

All vaccinations are open to the public. Anyone interested in getting a booster shot is asked to register at www.saulttribehealth.com or call 906-632-5200 and look on their vaccination card to determine what vaccine was received to schedule the booster with the same vaccine, as cross- vaccinations are not recommended at this time.

The Sault Tribe Health Division’s COVID-19 vaccination clinics are scheduled for: Tuesday, St. Ignace; Thursday, Manistique Health Center; Thursday, Marquette Tribal Community Health Center; Aug. 30, Munising Tribal Health Center; Aug. 31, Escanaba Tribal Community Health Center; and Aug. 31, Sugar Island Community Center.