Dr. Chastity Walker, DrPH, MPH Tells us What You Need To Know About COVID Vaccinations & Boosters [Listen]
Source: CDC YouTube / I AM CDC
There is still so much misinformation about the COVID-19 Vaccination and booster shots. With Winter knocking on our door, it may be best to figure out if taking the vaccine is best for you but you need correct and quality info to make an educated choice. Dr. Chastity Walker, DrPH, MPH stops by the Russ Parr Morning Show to talk about misconceptions about boosters, vaccines, and more.
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Russ Parr: I’m glad to have you on because there’s so much misinformation and maybe too much information and we just need to set the record straight. What should listeners know about the COVID vaccination?
Dr. Cassidy Walker: So first of all, we want to emphasize that COVID vaccinations work. Being up to date with COVID-19 vaccines is the best way to protect against severe illness, hospitalization and death associated with COVID-19. And now we have an updated COVID-19 vaccine. Some know it as the by Vaillant booster available to restore protection that has waned since previous vaccination efforts, which is intended to provide broader protection against some of the more recent circulating COVID-19 variants that your listeners might be familiar with about related to the recent Omicron sub-variants. And so those were much much more transmissible, right likely to be able to evade antibodies made against earlier sub-variants. So this updated booster is really intended to protect against those.
Russ Parr: Yeah, I want to say that I did get that booster and I had no side effects whatsoever. And this is my fourth one and I feel very comfortable that it’s working. Let me ask it, why is it important and how can people find out which vaccine they need?
Dr. Cassidy Walker: So CDC recommends that everyone who is eligible for an updated bus booster get one and you’re eligible to get an updated booster if you received your primary series COVID-19 vaccination and received your last dose of any COVID-19 vaccine at least two months ago and are five years of age or older. And it doesn’t matter which COVID-19 primary series you complete it, whether it was Maderna, or Pfizer, or Johnson and Johnson, it doesn’t matter how many previous boosters you’ve received. We just want you to get the updated booster because with these updated boosters, and the new recommendations, we want to ensure that you’re up-to-date, protected, and healthy.
Russ Parr: What is the CDC doing to address health equity during the pandemic and reduce disparities, particularly when it comes to vaccine access and coverage?
Dr. Cassidy Walker: Well, absolutely, we know that COVID-19 has disproportionately affected some racial and ethnic minority populations. And the pandemic has exposed long-standing health inequities in the United States. And I speak from personal experience, I actually lost my baby sister to COVID in August of 2020. So I understand what COVID has done to impact the African American community and communities across the nation. And so we know that vaccination provides the best protection against severe COVID-19. And that increasing vaccine coverage across communities that reduce some of these inequities in the future. And so CDC is working with suppliers to ensure that providers have a supply with equitable access in mind, right, ensuring that providers our role to reach key populations, right? And most importantly, we’re working with communities to ensure that there is communication to understand why vaccine uptake is ideal whenever it’s not working to engage partners and trusted messengers to communicate the importance of getting to date.
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