Same-day appointments available at LFCHD for new COVID-19 boosters

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - The Lexington-Fayette County Health Department is allowing same-day appointments to get the new bivalent COVID-19 boosters.

Health department officials say this isn’t a change in how they’re administering the boosters, it’s a continuation.

For months, if you wanted to get a COVID-19 booster shot you would come to the public health clinic at the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department. That stopped a number of weeks ago when the old booster was discontinued. Now, that same method is coming back.

“We had to wait for that to be released and distributed. It always takes a little time to trickle down from the top down to the local level,” Christina King, LFCHD.

King says those new booster shots are specially designed to fight off the original strain of the virus and the new omicron subvariants that have been most contagious in the last number of months.

“We’re one army and that virus is another army, and every time that virus attacks us, and we counter it’s going to adjust its tactics to try and keep attacking us and that’s what’s happened with these variants and the omicron variant,” King said. “So, we then have to adjust what we’re combating with. So, that’s what we’ve done with this bivalent booster.”

Over the last two weeks, the health department has held COVID booster clinics with updated shots. In total, more than 1,200 doses were administered.

King says the demand is there still despite differing levels of COVID fatigue. She says it’s vital more people take advantage of the free shots, especially now that fall is upon us.

“We need those beds open for emergencies, for accidents, for people with health concerns,” King said. “So, if something as simple as getting a free booster shot can help lessen your chances of going to the hospital, then that’s just what we need to do.”

If you’re looking to get an appointment at the health department, you can go online to the health department’s website. You’ll be able to make a same-day appointment for their public health clinic days there. Booster shots are available to anyone as young as 12 years old.

We’ve also reached out to some of our surrounding counties to see what kind of demand they are seeing for boosters. Madison County told us that they are seeing a steady stream of people coming in to get the booster, which they credit in part to their low level of community COVID transmission.

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