{"id":62574,"date":"2022-02-17T14:29:35","date_gmt":"2022-02-17T21:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=62574"},"modified":"2024-07-18T14:42:21","modified_gmt":"2024-07-18T20:42:21","slug":"making-sense-of-covid-vaccine-boosters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/making-sense-of-covid-vaccine-boosters\/","title":{"rendered":"Making sense of coronavirus vaccine boosters"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>
\"nurse
Confused about COVID-19 booster shots? You’re not alone. Photo: Getty Images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you\u2019re confused about coronavirus vaccination, you\u2019re not alone. Blame the confusion on the coronavirus itself.<\/p>\n

With SARS-CoV-2 mutations \u2013 particularly the mutations that give rise to the wildly contagious omicron variant<\/a> \u2013 have come scientific studies that have fed into changing vaccination guidance. Let\u2019s cut through the noise and make sense of COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters, starting with those who are immunocompromised or have a weakened immune system.<\/p>\n

First, to be clear, \u201cimmunocompromised\u201d does not apply to those whose immune systems are undergoing inevitable age-based decline. Dr. Thomas Campbell<\/a>, a University of Colorado School of Medicine and UCHealth virologist and infectious disease specialist, says there\u2019s a sliding scale to immune-system deficiency.<\/p>\n

\"dr.
Dr. Thomas Campbell.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a continuum. On one hand, there are people who are severely immunocompromised \u2013 those with recent bone-marrow or heart or lung transplants,\u201d Campbell said. At the other end, there are changes in the immune system associated with age.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s definition of \u201cimmunocompromised\u201d<\/a> with respect to the coronavirus is for now strict. It includes those with immune systems pharmaceutically throttled after organ transplants, those in active cancer treatment, stem-cell transplant patients, those with immunodeficiency syndromes or advanced HIV infections, or patients on high-dose corticosteroids or other immune-suppressing drugs. Such patients have been especially vulnerable to severe disease and death<\/a> since the beginning of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

What does the CDC say about vaccinations and boosters?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

For those immunocompromised and older than 12, the CDC guidance<\/a> with respect to the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines that more than 90% of the Colorado population has received is as follows:<\/p>\n