By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Dr. Rex Degner, Chief Medical Officer at Hutchinson Regional Healthcare System believes getting a COVID-19 booster is a good idea for those who have already been vaccinated.
"I do believe that boosters are a very reasonable thing," Degner said. "I received my booster in October, as have the rest of my family. I think that they are very safe. I think that they do help the overall situation, both personally and as a community."
Degner strongly encourages boosters if it has been more than six months since your second COVID-19 shot, if you had a two-shot series, or more than two months if you received the one shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine.
"Omicron, the jury is still out on that," Degner said. "It appears initially, right now, that it may be a little bit more infectious, more people may get it than the other variants but it appears to be less virulent and they may not be getting as sick. That's the good news."
Viruses attempt to become more diverse in an effort to stay alive, and Degner expects that with COVID-19, as well.
"I believe that we're switching from a pandemic, which was the initial big push of all of the COVID, to COVID now being what we call endemic," Degner said. "It's in the community. It's in the world. It's in the state and it probably is never going to completely go away, so the idea will be to mitigate it as much as possible, so as people get vaccinated, as people get natural immunity, it will help knock down the spread, so it won't be as severe."
Degner expects there may be booster recommendations in future years, just like people are encouraged to get their flu shot.