Should I have a Covid vaccine booster dose?

What does the CDC mean by "immunocompromised?"

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Recommendation

The CDC recently recommended a booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine for very high-risk individuals. This includes people who have:

• Been receiving active cancer treatment for tumors or cancers of the blood

• Received an organ transplant and are taking medicine to suppress the immune system

• Received a stem cell transplant within the last 2 years or are taking medicine to suppress the immune system

• Moderate or severe primary immunodeficiency (such as DiGeorge syndrome, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome)

• Active treatment with high-dose corticosteroids or other drugs that may suppress your immune response

You can find additional details on the CDC website.

If I’m not immunocompromised?

We have had many questions from patients who do not fit these categories. At present, we recommend that only patients who fit the CDC definition above proceed with booster doses.

However, if you do not meet the CDC definition, but would like to receive a booster dose, please email your physician and we will be happy to discuss this.

We strongly suspect that the recommendations from CDC will change (maybe very soon) and we will update our booster dose strategy when they do. The vaccine should remain widely available, and we have ordered hundreds of doses to ensure that we can provide this for our patients as recommendations change.