Emergency Medicine

COVID-19 Boosters and Vaccinations: October 2022

The rate of vaccination in Milwaukee County has slowed and proven to be an uphill battle for a while now. Chief health policy advisor for county, Dr. Ben Weston, said “more than 50% of adults have heard little to nothing about the new bivalent booster.” These new boosters were approved by the FDA in late August 2022. They were created to produce immunity to both the original variant as well as the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants. These subvariants were seen across the county, creating a burden for both the community and health care facilities. Of the booster-eligible residents, 58% have received it. However, in the county only 61.3% of residents are completely vaccinated. According to Dr. Weston, the key to keeping our disease burden low is to maintain immunity. He states the safest and most effective way to do that is to get boosted.

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