Oregon, Washington start offering second COVID booster doses for 50 and up, immunocompromised

PORTLAND, Ore. (KPTV) - Second booster doses are now available in Oregon and Washington for people who are over 50 or have other health conditions.

So FOX12 was curious, at this point in the pandemic, what does COVID vaccine supply and demand look like?

“I think I’m safe because of the boosters,” Roger Martin said after he got his second booster.

On the first day these second boosters were available pharmacist Thanh Le at Lecare Pharmacy had already administered 45 by 5 P.M. with more people still coming in just before close.

He said that’s comparable to the first day rush they got when the first round of booster doses became available in the fall.

Still though it’s nothing near initial vaccine demand when they were sometimes doing 700 shots a day.

“We expected it because we’ve been having phone calls,” Le said.

People who meet the criteria can get Pfizer or Moderna four months after their first booster dose.

And Le said he has plenty of doses on hand, and they take walk-ins.

Lisa Sheckler works in healthcare and said she’s concerned about the subvariant of Omicron, which the CDC said is now dominant in the U.S.

“I want to protect the people around me and protect myself,” Sheckler said. “You can’t just pretend like it’s over because you want it to be over.”

Even though those at the pharmacy are eager for a boost, data from the Oregon Health Authority also shows boosters have not been nearly as popular as initial COVID vaccine doses.

Of the 1.6 million people over 50 in Oregon, nearly 1.4 million are vaccinated.

Just over half of that total population got their initial booster and OHA expects closer to 30 percent to get a second booster over the next four to six months.

When it comes to shot supply, OHA said they have plenty, about 270,000 doses already distributed throughout the state and they can get more from the CDC if needed.

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