LAFAYETTE — The Pfizer COVID-19 booster shot is officially being administered in Lafayette.
Today Ochsner Lafayette General Hospitalstarted giving out the third dose to those who qualify.
According to LDH, if you are 6 months out from your two-dose Pfizer series, you are now eligible to receive a booster shot if you are:
- Age 65 or older
- Age 18 or older and have one of many underlying medical condition
- Age 18 or older and live or work in a setting that places you at risk of being exposed to COVID
Officials say they had more than 200 appointments booked on Monday for people wanting to get the Pfizer booster shot.
"As soon as this came out Friday, I made an appointment online. I was shocked I could get in so quick," Sandra Gaspard said.
Gaspard is one many who came with her sleeve rolled up, ready for the shot.
"I do not want to die because of not breathing. We have been taking vaccines since we went to kindergarten to go to school," said Gaspard. "I'm 70, and I'm still here."
Health officials warn the Pfizer booster can only be taken 6 months or more after getting the first two Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine doses. If you got the Moderna or the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, you cannot get the Pfizer booster shot.
"We cannot cross over the manufactured vaccines. There is no booster today, except for Pfizer," Karen Wible, Clinical Lead for COVID-19 vaccine sites for Ochsner Lafayette Health System explained. "There is talk about Moderna, there are a lot of questions. We want to be clear to the public, we do not have an approved booster for Moderna."
Wible says if you are unsure which shot you got or if you misplaced your vaccine card, officials are able to look up the information on a statewide database.
"We have all of the information for you. Come get your booster if you got your first and second dose," Wible said.
Ochsner is also doing COVID-19 tests and giving out the flu shot. While an appointment is highly recommended, they say it is not needed.
To make an appointment, click here or call 855-206-9675.
According to the FDA, "The most commonly reported side effects by the clinical trial participants who received the booster dose of the vaccine were pain, redness and swelling at the injection site, as well as fatigue, headache, muscle or joint pain and chills. Of note, swollen lymph nodes in the underarm were observed more frequently following the booster dose than after the primary two-dose series."