Trending
CHARLESTON -- Though one new type of COVID-19 vaccine is on the way and research continues on other avenues, West Virginia's coronavirus czar doesn't recommend people wait to get a booster dose.
"There is some confusion in some people about whether or not they should wait for a booster that might be available in the fall, in October or so, that may have some more protection against omicron," Dr. Clay Marsh, chancellor and executive dean for health sciences at West Virginia University, said during Gov. Jim Justice's online briefing Thursday. "But the key for almost every expert, and my own perspective as well, is do not wait to get your booster."
Being vaccinated and boosted reduced the risk of dying with the omicron variant of the coronavirus by 29 times compared to being unvaccinated, Marsh said, while a second booster reduces that risk four times compared to just a single booster. Research also indicates vaccination reduces the risk of developing long COVID as well.
Boosters are recommended for ages 5 and up, while a second booster is recommended for people 50 and older and some others. But nationwide, just 23 percent of people 65 and older have gotten that second booster and just 9 percent of those age 50-64, Marsh said.
Although West Virginia's overall number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 decreased slightly from Wednesday to Thursday, Marsh said there had been 64 new admissions in the previous 24-hour period.
"We see that the people that were admitted to West Virginia hospitals were largely people over 50 years old," he said. "It really does underscore the real utility, the real importance of staying up to date with vaccinations."
While Pfizer and Moderna are aiming to have new formulations to better target the omicron variants by this fall, federal regulators approved a Novavax vaccine earlier this month for people who have not been vaccinated at all. It works more like existing vaccines such as those used to prevent hepatitis B or shingles.
"The (Pfizer and Moderna) mRNA vaccines use genetic information to instruct the body to create little parts of the virus, the protein of the virus, which is made inside our bodies and then presented to our immune cells so our immune cells react to it," Marsh said. "The Novavax is a more traditional vaccine that does not use genetic information, (it) actually uses a protein to deliver to our bodies as other vaccines in the past, which then can be uptaken by cells in our bodies to instruct them to make antibodies and to respond if they see that same pattern again."
It's hoped that people who have been reluctant to take the mRNA vaccines might opt for Novavax instead, Marsh said.
If someone has no qualms about any of the vaccines, Marsh said he would recommend the mRNA versions because there is more data showing how effective they are at protecting people from the worst effects of the coronavirus.
"Over 12 billion messenger RNA vaccines have been delivered all over the world, so we know that they work really, really well in protecting us from severe consequences of COVID-19," he said. "I would tend to recommend that people get vaccinated, first of all, so if you have a hesitation about one group of vaccines, then please, be vaccinated with the other."
Marsh said some of the individuals whose ages and counties of residence the governor reads during the COVID-19 briefings might not have died if they had been "effectively vaccinated."
White House officials also recently discussed a new type of vaccine delivered through the nose, which might also be better at preventing infection and spread of the virus, Marsh said.
Also during the briefing, Justice announced a third probable case of monkeypox had been found in the state, this one in Berkeley County, like the first.
State emergency management officials were in communication Thursday with all 55 counties to determine if emergency declarations were needed to address potential flooding from heavy rains, the governor said. Justice issued a state of preparedness for the entire state Tuesday.
Justice also noted that the state's DMV services were expected to be up and running Thursday after a mainframe problem that began last week.
Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.