Submitted by Hill Regional Hospital
January 12, 2022
Effective immediately, Hill Regional Hospital has moved its COVID-19 vaccine clinic to Thursdays from 1 to 3 p.m. We would appreciate your making an appointment online by visiting the website, http://www.hillregionalhospital.com.
After choosing to make an appointment for a new vaccine or a booster, when you enter the site you will be asked “What specialty do you want?” and two choices will come up. You must choose “COVID testing and vaccination.”
Walk-ins at this time are still able to come in, but those with appointments will be seen first. If you have questions, you can call the hospital at 254-580-8500.
Both Moderna and Pfizer are available and new criteria for some of the vaccines is now in place.
If you received an original Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine, you can get a different booster two months following your initial J&J vaccine and may choose either Pfizer or Moderna.
If you choose to continue with your Moderna vaccine, the booster criteria of waiting six months following the second shot remains the same.
Those adults who received the original Pfizer vaccines are now advised that a shortened time to five months is now recommended for receiving a booster.
Additionally, the CDC now recommends that adolescents in the 12-17 age range should receive a booster five months after their second shot in the original series. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is the only vaccine approved for this age.
Quoting from the CDC, “CDC is recommending that moderately or severely immunocompromised 5-11 year-olds receive an additional primary dose of vaccine 28 days after their second shot. At this time, only the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is authorized and recommended for children aged 5-11.”
“This omicron COVID-19 variant appears to be the most contagious and fastest moving we’ve seen. But we can also see that vaccines are effective at keeping most cases light and not life threatening,” says Catana Villarreal, CNO. “We certainly encourage getting the vaccine or a booster if eligible. It’s important not to become complacent in wearing masks, washing our hands and keeping distances from people when possible. These actions will continue to help.”
Hill Regional encourages everyone to seek medical advice from their own physicians on the advisability of getting vaccines. Additional information can be found on the CDC website, as well.
The Lakelander 