COVID-19 boosters temporarily on hold in Sonoma County while new omicron vaccine supply arrives

Sonoma County health officials have temporarily put on hold all COVID-19 vaccine booster shots, pending delivery of a new updated booster that's formulated to provide protection against the highly infectious omicron variant.

The county’s public health agency said Thursday it expects the new vaccine will be available next week. The move comes after state health officials on Wednesday asked health care providers to stop administering the original booster after the federal Food and Drug Administration approved the new booster for people 12 and older.

“We want to make sure that everyone has the most up-to-date protection against COVID-19,” Dr. Sundari Mase, the county’s health officer, said in a statement. “I urge anyone who is eligible to get the new boosters once they are available. This is our best tool to keep the community safe through the fall and winter.”

The current overall COVID-19 transmission rate in Sonoma County is 14.9 new daily cases per 100,000 people. Local case rates have been slowly declining — particularly for the vaccinated population — since they peaked in early June at 46.5 new daily cases per 100,000 residents. The infection rate for the unvaccinated is currently 47.6 new cases per 100,000 people.

The FDA said the new “bivalent formulations” of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines, which the agency is calling “updated boosters,” contain two mRNA components of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. One component is the original strain of the virus and the other one is common between the BA.4 and BA.5 lineages of the omicron variant.

The FDA said reformulation of the COVID-19 vaccine is similar to that of the annual influenza vaccine.

“The FDA has extensive experience with strain changes for annual influenza vaccines. We are confident in the evidence supporting these authorizations,” Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a statement.

“The public can be assured that a great deal of care has been taken by the FDA to ensure that these bivalent COVID-19 vaccines meet our rigorous safety, effectiveness and manufacturing quality standards for emergency use authorization,” Marks said.

The updated booster is authorized for use as a single booster dose at least two months following primary or booster vaccination. The original, monovalent vaccine can still be used for first and second doses and for booster doses for kids 6 months to 11 years.

A panel of advisers to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are meeting this week to provide recommendations on the new doses. County officials said that after the bivalent boosters are granted all regulatory approvals, the new vaccine should arrive starting next week.

For now, booster appointments and walk-in clinics are placed on hold until the new vaccine arrives. Pfizer’s new booster is for anyone 12 and older, while Moderna’s is for anyone 18 and older.

Officials said once they arrive, the new boosters should be available through primary care providers, health centers and pharmacies, as well as the county’s vaccine clinics at the Roseland Community Center and the LHI clinic at the Rohnert Park Community Center.

For more information about vaccine clinics in Sonoma County, visit SoCoEmergency.org/vaccine. Appointments can be made through MyTurn.ca.gov.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @pressreno.