Chatham Health Dept. only offering COVID-19 booster shots to the 'moderately or severely immunocompromised'

Chatham County will offer booster COVID-19 shots to people with conditions that make them "moderately or severely immunocompromised," the Chatham County Public Health Department announced in a release  Wednesday afternoon.

This includes the following individuals:

• Those who are receiving active cancer treatment for tumors or cancers of the blood
  
  
• Those who have received an organ transplant and are taking medicine to suppress the immune system
  
  
• Those who have received a stem cell transplant in the last two years or are taking medicine to suppress the immune system
  
  
• Those with moderate or severe primary immunodeficiency (such as DiGeorge syndrome, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome)
  
  
• Those with advanced or untreated HIV infection, and those receiving active treatment with high-dose corticosteroids or other drugs that may suppress your immune response.
  
  

Booster shots are currently approved for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, making them a third dose of those vaccines. Officials have not yet recommended booster shots for people who got the one-time Johnson & Johnson vaccine,  though they've said they anticipate eventually doing so. 

CCPHD Director Mike Zelek said in the announcement to check with a doctor or medical provider if you fall into one of the above groups or are unsure.

For now, booster shots are not yet authorized for anyone else, and they do not expect them to be for another month. Until they are authorized, the health department said that it is not able to administer vaccines to others or schedule appointments for them, but will pass along more information as it becomes available. 

Vaccines remain the most effective way to prevent serious illness, hospitalization and death due to COVID-19, the release said. For a list of providers in Chatham County and beyond, visit Vaccines.gov.