By Helen Gloege ’23
Staff Writer
In mid-October, both the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration released statements on their websites that endorsed a booster shot for COVID-19 in certain populations. The CDC stated that people who are 65 years and older, as well as those who are over 18 years old and live in a long-term care setting, work or live in high-risk settings and/or have underlying medical conditions, are eligible to get the shot. Some states, such as Colorado, Kentucky and Michigan, are allowing anyone 18 or older to receive the booster shot. The CDC and FDA statements recommend waiting six months before getting the boosters for Moderna and Pfizer and two months before receiving the booster for Johnson & Johnson. The Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson or Janssen boosters are currently under an emergency use authorization, according to Yale Medicine.
Within their statement, the FDA also tracked symptoms and booster effectiveness from participants who received a booster vaccine. In an article for 10 Boston News, Dr. Daniel Kuritzkes of Brigham and Women’s Hospital reported that the “side effects of the booster are exactly the same as the first and second shot.” Kuritzkes also noted that being exposed previously to a COVID-19 vaccine prepares the body to better handle the side effects of the booster shot. Booster vaccines have been approved to “keep the vaccines effective for longer,” according to the Massachusetts Government website.
Both the FDA and the CDC have authorized the concept of mixing and matching COVID-19 boosters, meaning that no matter what initial shot a person received, they can receive any of the brands of shots for their booster shot. According to an article published in Nature, the research around mixing and matching has mainly come from countries that halted the use of AstraZeneca due to concerns around side effects, wherein people received another type of shot for the second in their series, generally Pfizer or Moderna. Nature also cited a study lead by Peter Nordström, an epidemiologist at Umeå University in Sweden. The study found that people in Sweden who received “mixed vaccinations were 68 percent less likely to develop a symptomatic infection” compared to unvaccinated people, while “people who received 2 doses of AstraZeneca were 50 percent less likely to do so.” A similar conclusion was drawn from a study conducted in Denmark about mixing and matching vaccines, the data being comparable due Sweden and Denmark having similar national health and vaccination registries. Another study published in Nature by Thierry Walzer and his coauthors found that infection rates in the mix-and-match group of AstraZeneca and Pfizer were “half of the original group that had two Pfizer doses.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, the data that the CDC and the FDA used to support mixing and matching vaccines came from a National Institutes of Health study that tested combinations of Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. The study has not been yet peer-reviewed. In the article, Vanderbilt University Medical Center Professor of Pediatrics Kathryn Edwards said that, regardless of the vaccine you get, “it’s going to boost your immune response.” The NIH study ranked combinations of different vaccines and vaccine boosters by looking at the antibody levels they produced in the period of “15 to 29 days after a booster.”
This study has been used to justify the mixing and matching of COVID-19 vaccine boosters. The results can be read in a multitude of ways. NPR reported that the aim of the study wasn’t “to compare one booster to another” but instead to examine people’s immune responses to different shots. In the same article, Dr. John Beigel of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases expressed “worry over the interpretation of our data.”
New information about the booster shots is coming out at a very rapid rate, which makes it “incredibly confusing for the public,” according to Monica Gandhi, a professor of medicine at the University of San Francisco quoted in the Washington Post.
While there are restrictions and recommendations for who can get a booster shot, students on campus and people in their circles have begun accessing them. In the case of Samantha Pittman ’23, getting a booster shot was important due to her job teaching children who may not yet be eligible to get the vaccine.
An anonymous sophomore, who has a mood disorder, will be receiving the vaccine booster shot when it opens up to individuals with mood disorders, which, according to Healthline, occurred on Oct. 14.
Other students, like Zoë Hellman ’23, have multiple family members who have received the booster shot.
Both Pittman and the anonymous student received or have plans to receive the same brand of shot as their prior doses, as did Hellman’s family members. Hellman’s family experienced “just the classic symptoms” after their booster shots, with no additional side effects.
Pittman had “anticipated there being boosters” for COVID-19 due to its similarities with the flu, which has a recommended yearly shot.
The anonymous student also expected boosters, as “shots are going to wear off eventually.” They even anticipated that COVID-19 boosters “would be needed earlier” than they were.
Pittman and Hellman weren’t surprised the College wasn’t providing a clinic to administer booster shots to their students.
“[We are] not at the stage for a school-wide booster,” Hellman said. Adding, because of the increased access to vaccines in the United States right now, she assumed that “the school wouldn’t have to do another clinic” as they did in the spring of 2021 for students and staff on campus.
Pittman agreed that it is “early for the school to actually be doing things” due to the boosters only being recommended for certain groups at this point. “When it opens to [everyone] 18-plus, Mount Holyoke should be doing a booster clinic,” as not everyone will be able to access vaccines off campus, Pittman said.
Cheryl Flynn from the Health Center reported that the Center doesn’t have COVID-19 vaccines due to the “responsibilities that go with being the recipient of it.” She added that it is “only recently that primary care places would get the vaccines themselves.” Generally, the Health Center has worked with third-party providers, such as pharmacies and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, in order to offer COVID-19 vaccines on campus. At this point, the Health Center staff are not officially referring students to “any particular sites” for receiving their booster shot.
Flynn and the Massachusetts Government’s website both recommend VaxFinder as a helpful tool to find COVID-19 vaccines. The Massachusetts Government website also provides an eligibility checker for anyone who may be unsure if they qualify for the booster shot at this point in time.