Should you get a booster shot for COVID-19?
There are two reasons for a “booster” – one for immunocompromised patients, and one for people who had their shots over 6 months ago. All of the doses are the same – 1st dose, 2nd dose and booster are the same amount, and contain the same ingredients (as long as the vaccine is from the same manufacturer).
If you are immunocompromised – kidney transplant patient, for example, or on immunosuppressants for glomerulonephritis, you should consider a booster after 1 month. This is 1 month after your second dose of an mRNA vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna). Currently, this does not apply to the J&J vaccine.
The other booster is for people who received their second dose of Pfizer (and as of 9/28/21 only Pfizer) over 6 months ago. If you received the second dose over 6 months ago, and have a qualifying condition, you should consider a booster.
Qualifying conditions include:
- age 65 and older
- resident of staff at a long-term care facility
- work in a high risk setting, such as healthcare, teaching, or grocery store workers
- age 18+ with a high risk condition – this includes diabetes, obesity, chronic kidney disease, heart disease, COPD/asthma, smoking (or former smoker), and cancer.
If you are a patient of Meadow Kidney Care, you likely have one of the high risk conditions mentioned above.
If you are a patient of Meadow Kidney Care and have questions about whether your specific situation, please contact the office to get the opinion of your physician.
This guidance is likely to change in the coming weeks, and we may see a second shot recommended for J&J or a 6 month booster for Moderna – these are not currently recommended by the CDC or approved by the FDA.