CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – In Montgomery County, an additional dose of the COVID-19 vaccine is already available to those who are moderately or severely immunocompromised, but on Wednesday, U.S. health officials released a statement recommending booster shots beginning in September.

So, what’s the difference between an additional shot and the booster, and where can you receive one in Montgomery County?

Booster shot vs. additional dose

According to Montgomery County Health Director Joey Smith, the booster shot and an additional dose of the vaccine are two different things.

For those who are moderately or severely immunocompromised, an additional dose has been recommended. This is an additional, full dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, making it the third that an individual with low immune protection would receive.

The additional dose is also used differently. It becomes recommended when the initial immune response after the first two doses of vaccine is already likely insufficient to protect against severe infection, Smith said.

The booster shot, on the other hand, is administered when the initial and sufficient immune response to the first two doses of the vaccine is likely to have lessened over a period of time.

It is currently unknown if the booster will be another full dose, making it the same as the shot those who are immunocompromised can receive, or if it will be different.

“The booster could be a full dose just like the third additional dose for immune compromised,” Smith told Clarksville Now. “We will know more when we receive the instructions about the boosters.”

Booster plan

The joint statement Wednesday marked the first official announcement of plans to administer a third shot to all 18 and older who received the two-dose vaccine series from either Moderna or Pfizer.

“The available data make very clear that protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection begins to decrease over time following the initial doses of vaccination, and in association with the dominance of the Delta variant, we are starting to see evidence of reduced protection against mild and moderate disease,” the statement said.

According to the statement, the booster plan should begin rolling out Sept. 20, and vaccinated individuals will become eligible eight months after receiving their second dose. So the first to receive boosters will likely be those who were eligible at the earliest phases of the rollout, to include health care providers, nursing home residents, and other senior citizens.

A booster shot is also anticipated for the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

“Administration of the J&J vaccine did not begin in the U.S. until March 2021, and we expect more data on J&J in the next few weeks,” the statement said.

The plan for releasing booster shots is still pending an independent investigation conducted by the FDA to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the third dose, according to the statement.

Local situation

According to data from Joey Smith, 54.8% of adults in Montgomery County are fully vaccinated as of Aug. 16, and 62.4% have had at least one dose. He added that this figure is higher than 92% of the counties in the Southeastern U.S.

“Adults are at the highest risk in terms of hospitalization and death due to COVID-19 and we are now so close to having 2/3rds of our adults receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. It will be another great milestone when our number of vaccinated adults is twice the number of unvaccinated adults,” Smith said.

In the joint statement released Wednesday, health officials also reiterated the importance of getting a vaccine to reduce the risk of becoming severely ill with the virus.

“We also want to emphasize the ongoing urgency of vaccinating the unvaccinated in the U.S. and around the world. Nearly all the cases of severe disease, hospitalization and death continue to occur among those not yet vaccinated at all,” the statement said.

Hospitalizations related to COVID-19 are still up, and Tennova Healthcare-Clarksville is no exception. There are currently 30 patients being treated for COVID-19 related complications, Sandy Wooten of Tennova said in a written statement to Clarksville Now on Wednesday.

Last Thursday, there were only 22 COVID-positive patients being treated either in the hospital’s COVID unit or in a COVID-designated ICU room.

To see where you can get an additional vaccine, and the booster when it becomes time, visit www.vaccines.gov/search or by call 1-800-232-0233. For more information on the vaccine, go to https://vaccinate.tn.gov/.