Last week, a group of U.S. Food and Drug Administration scientific advisors recommended that only certain groups get a third COVID-19 vaccine shot. That group includes people 65 and older and those who are at high risk for serious cases of COVID-19, when they got their second dose of the Pfizer vaccine more than 6 months ago.
Oregon Health Authority Director Patrick Allen.
Kaylee Domzalski / OPB
This recommendation has to go through several more steps at the FDA, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and locally before booster shots will be available in Oregon.
But that could be soon, said Patrick Allen, director of the Oregon Health Authority. “This should all get wrapped up, we expect, by the end of this week. And so boosters would become available next week,” he said on Monday.
Allen said that, because of the surge in delta variant cases, the state won’t be setting up mass vaccination clinics to distribute booster shots.
Instead, Oregonians who are eligible should call their local clinic or pharmacy.