SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Advisors to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Thursday exactly who they're recommending should get the Pfizer COVID-19 booster shot.
The panel is recommending people 65 and older, nursing home residents and those who are 50 to 64 with underlying conditions can get a booster shot at least six months after their last Pfizer dose.
The panel also recommends that people 18 to 49 with underlying conditions could choose to get a booster as well.
But after the FDA gave its approval for booster shots on Wednesday, it led to confusion over when this next course of vaccine shots will actually become available. It has started to overwhelm local pharmacists.
Pharmacist Clint Hopkins could hear the sound of phones ringing in his sleep.
"It's so overwhelming. It's all day long. It's phone call, phone call, phone call -- four, five, six lines lit up on hold," Hopkins, the owner of Pucci's Pharmacy, said.
Ever since the FDA approved Pfizer boosters, his pharmacy has been inundated with calls.
"Right now, it's not time yet, just for the immunocompromised," he said.
Despite jumping the hurdle of getting FDA and CDC approval, boosters for this group won't be available until approvals are made from the Western States Scientific Review Workgroup and the California Department of Public Health.
"We cannot begin implementing boosters until we have the recommendation of both of these committees, so I know people are anxious and want to get moving. I do caution you to just hold on a little bit longer," Rachel Allen, the Sacramento County Immunization Program Manager, said. "We do think we'll have both of those completed hopefully by the end of tomorrow or over the weekend."
And Hopkins says, that's actually a good thing that no one is jumping the gun on this, despite his phone ringing off the hook.
"They're going to review the data and make sure that everything checks out; it's for our safety. It's in everyone's best interest to have that review to occur," he said.
Sacramento County says, at this time, they're still focused on getting people their first dose of the vaccine, so when those boosters do become available, they're asking folks to rely on their primary care providers or pharmacies.
"We are ready. We have plenty of supplies," Hopkins said.
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