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Some people are wondering when or if they should get a booster shot as COVID-19 cases start to rise.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says COVID hospital admissions have risen 21% over the couple weeks. That has many people asking if they need to get a booster right away.
Dr. Jo-Anne Passalacqua with Hartford Healthcare says no, unless you are immune compromised.
"I am encouraging patients to wait, you know, unless there's a very specific reason to be vaccinated right now," says Passalacqua.
Passalacqua says new updated vaccines are coming from Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax later next month. She thinks early October is the best time to get vaccinated.
Doctors say there are two new COVID variants: EG.5, or Eris, and BA.2.86, which has 36 mutations.
"It doesn't appear to be more severe than the former strains. It doesn't appear to be more transmissible," says Passalacqua.
Passalacqua says the updated vaccines that are coming out will be effective against these newer variants and the latest test kits should be able to detect them.
She says the same rules apply as kids head back to school.
"I would hope that schools would pay attention to proper distancing when they see children in a classroom and that they would be performing, you know, hygiene of high-touch surfaces," said Passalacqua.
Passalacqua thinks COVID might be bad this winter, but nothing like what we saw in March of 2020.
"All the little efforts of the individual person matter. Those are the things that are going to make the difference of what kind of numbers we see in the upcoming season," says Passalacqua.
Passalacqua says we are not expected to see a combination of one vaccine to fight the flu and COVID this year. She says that's maybe a few years away.
