LAist: What You Need to Know About the New COVID Vaccine
LAist program AirTalk recently interviewed Kimberly Shriner, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at Huntington Health, an affiliate of Cedars-Sinai, about the latest update to the COVID-19 vaccine that could help protect the community during a busy respiratory virus season this autumn and winter.
Shriner told AirTalk host Larry Mantle the new vaccine targets the so-called FLiRT variants of COVID-19, such as KP.3. She explained the vaccine is primarily intended to protect against serious illness for those individuals who have not been sick with COVID-19 for at least three months.
Shriner told Mantle some people may experience a mild reaction in the hours after getting the vaccine, a normal immune system response.
“It’s very safe, and I think that it is well worth these few hours of uncomfortableness to be protected as we head into this winter, because we’ve had a pretty brisk summer problem,” she said. “I hate to think what’s coming in the winter.”
Shriner told Mantle people who are at higher risk of getting very sick from COVID-19 should get vaccinated more frequently.
“If you are older than 65, have any kind of immunosuppressant comorbidity or have had severe illness before, then it’s good probably to be vaccinated every six months or so,” she said. “For those individuals that don’t have those, then the yearly vaccine is OK. Remember that the antibodies are beginning to fade probably three or four months after you get the shot.”
Click here to listen to the entire segment of AirTalk.