Public health awaiting shipment of COVID-19 omicron dose vaccine

COMMUNITY NOTICE
Sept. 7, 2022

Garfield County Public Health is awaiting the arrival of the officially approved Pfizer and Moderna updated COVID-19 omicron dose vaccines. The vaccines are designed to offer protection from the original COVID-19 virus and the omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus.

Garfield County vaccine clinics will be announced once the vaccines are available.

As of August 31, 2022, Pfizer and Moderna’s original COVID-19 vaccines are only authorized as primary series vaccines for people aged 12 years and older. People too young to receive an omicron dose can still receive a third dose of the original COVID-19 vaccine. We are not providing booster doses until the omicron vaccine is available.

Pfizer and Moderna’s omicron doses use the same mRNA-based technology as the original versions of the COVID-19 vaccines. Hundreds of millions of people have safely received an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. In clinical studies, the new omicron doses successfully stimulated the immune system to produce antibodies. Antibodies are proteins in the blood that fight specific invaders in the body, such as viruses.