SC prepares to provide COVID boosters, but more concerned about shots for unvaccinated

South Carolina will be prepared to administer COVID-19 booster shots when they’re authorized, but remains focused on getting shots in the arms of the state’s large unvaccinated population, health officials said.

State Epidemiologist Linda Bell said Wednesday the Department of Health and Environmental Control was making plans to heed the Biden Administration’s recommendation that all Americans who got the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines receive booster shots eight months after their second doses, starting Sept. 20.

“Just as the CDC is making plans for the administration of booster doses, our DHEC planning and logistics staff maintains close collaboration with health care providers, with practices and other vaccination sites and community partners to ensure that we will be prepared for doses to be administered in South Carolina,” she told reporters during an agency media briefing.

Federal officials made the call Wednesday to recommend booster shots for all Americans, roughly a week after third doses were authorized for individuals with compromised immune systems, such as cancer patients and organ transplant recipients.

The decision comes after CDC studies found the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, while highly effective at preventing severe COVID-19 illness, wane somewhat over time in their ability to stave off coronavirus infection. This was especially true in a study of nursing home patients, where the vaccines were found to be about 75% effective against infection in the spring, but dropped to 53% over the summer, after the delta variant emerged.

The rationale for waiting eight months to get a booster is based on the data, Bell said.

“There’s nothing actually magical about the eight-month period, but they want to make sure that people are prepared and that we’ll be protected if immunity begins to wane around that time frame,” she said.

A booster shot may eventually be recommended for the one-dose Johnson & Johnson shot, but because that vaccine was released after the others, studies on the need for a second shot are still in progress.

Bell said state health officials are awaiting federal guidance about the rollout of boosters for all South Carolinians, which unlike those already available for immunocompromised residents, still must be authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and reviewed and recommended by a panel of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

In the meantime, DHEC will continue to encourage all eligible South Carolinians to roll up their sleeves as soon as possible.

“We know that people who are already vaccinated are still pretty well protected. Our concern is that that’s waning over time,” Bell said in response to a question about DHEC’s plans to encourage booster shots. “For those individuals who are unvaccinated, who currently have no protection whatsoever, is a great concern.”

South Carolina continues to lag much of the country in its COVID-19 vaccination rate. As of Wednesday, just 46% of South Carolinians 12 and older are fully vaccinated and 54.3% have gotten at least one shot.

Nationally, about 60% of eligible Americans are fully inoculated and 70% are partially inoculated, according to CDC data.

This story was originally published August 18, 2021 at 4:34 PM with the headline "SC prepares to provide COVID boosters, but more concerned about shots for unvaccinated."

Zak Koeske

The State

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Zak Koeske is a projects reporter for The State. He previously covered state government and politics for the paper. Before joining The State, Zak covered education, government and policing issues in the Chicago area. He’s also written for publications in his native Pittsburgh and the New York/New Jersey area.