Following an order from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), Bothwell Regional Health Center is scheduled to begin administering third doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, August 23, to certain immunocompromised individuals who have already received the two-dose Pfizer series.
According to the DHSS order, a third dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines may be administered to moderately to severely immunocompromised people due to a medical condition or combination of immunosuppressive medication or treatments including but not limited to:
• Immunocompromised due to solid organ transplant and taking immune-suppressing medications;
• Immunocompromised due to active treatment for solid tumor and hematologic malignancies;
• Immune compromised due to Receipt of CAR-T cell or hematopoietic stem cell transplant (within two years of transplantation or taking immunosuppression therapy);
• Moderate to severe primary immunodeficiency (e.g., DiGeorge, Wiskott-Aldrich Syndromes);
• Immunocompromised due to Advanced or untreated HIV infection;
• Immunocompromised due to “Active treatment with high-dose corticosteroids or other drugs that may suppress immune response: high dose corticosteroids (i.e. 20 mg prednisone or equivalent per day), alkylating agents, antimetabolites, transplant-related immunosuppressive drugs, cancer chemotherapeutic agents classified as severely immunosuppressive, tumor-necrosis (TNF) blocker or other biologic agents that are immunosuppressive or immunomodulatory”.
Bothwell currently administers only the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. People who are eligible for the third dose may receive it at weekly clinics at the Bothwell Healing Arts Center or the Bothwell Health Center-Truman Lake in Warsaw; by walking in at the Bothwell Walk-In Clinic; or by appointment at Bothwell Family Medicine Associates, Bothwell Family Health, Bothwell OB/GYN Associates, Bothwell Internal Medicine and Bothwell TLC Pediatrics.
While eligible individuals will not be required to provide documentation of their health status, they will be required to sign a new COVID-19 consent form as well as a form stating they qualify for the third dose and have received the two-dose series of the Pfizer vaccine. Clinic details and forms can be found at brhc.org/vaccine.
People who received the two-dose series of the Moderna vaccine and are eligible for a third dose should contact the Pettis County Health Center. The order does not apply to those who received the Janssen/Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
The state order also indicates that individuals who do not meet the criteria for “moderately to severely immunocompromised” do not need a third dose at this time.