Many are finding themselves perplexed by new Covid-19 booster shot regulations from the Food and Drug Administration.
After health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified that “it’s not recommended for healthy people” to the Senate Finance Committee, Florida implemented restrictions on vaccine access. Only those over 65 or with qualifying conditions are eligible, and a prescription from a doctor is required to receive the booster shot.
Pharmacies are shouldering the burden of explaining these new regulations. Although many pharmacy technicians are certified to give vaccines, only pharmacists are able to give the Covid-19 booster shot.
“Everyone that works in my pharmacy, at least half of our day is now spent telling people we can’t give them a Covid booster. As a CVS employee we’re not supposed to give opinions, but the past few weeks portions of our day are spent telling people they can’t get the Covid booster, and then talking about the government policies,” an CVS pharmacy technician who requested anonymity said.
Two WGCU staffers who sought the booster were able to get the vaccine without a prescription from a doctor from a CVS in Lee County. They made online appointments and received shots in a matter of days.
Additionally, some COVID shot providers have run out of the COVID and some flu vaccines and had to rescheduled people who were awaiting the shot.
One local such outlet in south Lee County reported they had been giving upwards of 50 shots a day and had exhausted their supplies of vaccine as of Friday. They were calling those scheduled for the weekend and rescheduling them for mid-week.
Retired USF professor Dr. Thomas Unnasch specializes in emerging viral infections. He discussed Kennedy’s vaccine skepticism.
“In 1890, before childhood vaccines, the mortality rate of people under the age of five was 22%... . Now with vaccines, the mortality rate of the under-five population is 0.6%. Robert Kennedy is right, you can develop natural immunity with exposure, but are we willing to go back to a period of time where one in five of our babies die before their fifth birthday,” Unnasch said.
Boosters aim to build immunity and make it easier to fight off illness, acting in three different ways. Some vaccines require multiple shots to build full immunity, like the two-dose measles vaccine. Others re-strengthen immunity that has decreased over time, like the tetanus vaccine, which is recommended every 10 years.
Finally, viruses like Covid-19 and the flu can mutate variants to escape vaccine response, so scientists formulate new vaccines every year to address variations.
WGCU' managing editor Mike Braun contributed to this report. WGCU is your trusted source for news and information in Southwest Florida. We are a nonprofit public service, and your support is more critical than ever. Keep public media strong and donate now. Thank you.
