Kendall County Health Department director urges residents to get COVID-19 ‘bivalent’ booster

YORKVILLE – As winter approaches and people find themselves indoors more often, public health officials are concerned about a possible surge in COVID-19 cases.

Kendall County Health Department Director RaeAnn VanGundy is urging residents to get a COVID-19 booster shot.

VanGundy told the Kendall County Board on Oct. 18 that the updated “bivalent” booster shots are now available.

“They are called bivalent because they protect against both the original virus that causes COVID-19 and the Omicron variant,” VanGundy said, including the A.4 and BA.5 variants.

The bivalent boosters are available for persons aged 5 and older who have received their primary series of immunizations, meaning two doses of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

“Anyone who is eligible and has not received any primary series or booster dose in the past two months should get their booster,” VanGundy said.

Persons who tested positive for COVID-19 in the past should wait for at least three months since the infection to receive the vaccine.

The Center for Disease Control has advised that people may get either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine for their booster, allowing them to “mix and match” any of the bivalent vaccines for the booster dose.

Only a single booster dose is recommended at this time by the CDC.

For persons who are immunocompromised, it is even more important to get the booster, VanGundy said, adding that people may get the booster and a flu shot at the same time.

More information and a portal for registering to receive the vaccine through the health department free of charge is available at www.kendallhealth.org.

Only persons who live or work in Kendall County are eligible.