GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. —
A new COVID vaccine, which helps to fight the latest variant, is now available. Released early, it’s to address the COVID surge seen across the country.
This surge, however, is not cause for concern.
“It's probably a cause for awareness, and it's a cause for kind of peaking your interest, but I would say that it's far from a like a cause for concern,” Andrew Jameson, Infectious Disease Physician and Section Chief of specialty medicine at Trinity Health Grand Rapids said. “We are in a much better place now than we've ever been. And so, these rising COVID cases are really a reflection on kind of our overall human behavior.”
Jameson said the time between vaccines adds to waning immunity, and the new mutations make people more susceptible to getting the virus.
“These rising COVID cases are more of a reflection on human behavior and also what's been happening with our vaccination status,” he said.
Jameson will be getting the new vaccine to protect himself and others. By working in a hospital around people with immunodeficiencies and having at-risk relatives, he doesn’t want to pass the spread.
He said the vaccine also mitigates the symptoms and can help prevent long COVID.
“I don't think we should be living in fear,” he said. “I don't think we should be, like, dramatically changing what we're doing. I think we still live our lives and kind of move forward.”
One place to get the new vaccine is CVS. One person can get three vaccines per appointment. They can also tell you what vaccines are missing based on state registries. Appointments are free.
There are also group appointments, where people and families can show up at once and get vaccinated in the same time frame.
“That way there's no waiting in between, you know, all of your appointments and things like that,” Irfan Salam, Pharmacy Manager at CVS Health said. “We would like for you guys all to come in at once and then, so that way we can vaccinate you all at once and get you guys all out the door at once, nice, quick and easy.”
CVS Health said in a survey 43% of adults plan to get vaccinated, but not until October. Although that is the most popular month for receiving a shot like the flu shot, experts are saying to immunize early due to the surges seen for many illnesses.
CVS Health said that the leading reasons to get a shot like the flu are habit, self-protection and recommendations from a doctor.
In Kent County, the spike is similar to those other areas of the country are seeing, starting in early June. Director of the Kent County Health Department Dr. Narali Bora said the numbers have been steadily increasing.
She said for those who have recently had COVID, consider delaying your vaccine dose by three months. But if you’re high-risk, you should get it at any time.
“It's like, you don’t have to wait those three months, but you do have a bit of protection from having the infection recently that could cover you for a little while,” Bora said.