San Diego County is in the middle of a summer COVID-19 wave, and new federal rules are making it harder for people to know whether they can get a booster.
During the week ending Aug. 9, reported cases in the county rose by more than a 100 compared to the week before. UC San Diego infectious disease specialist Dr. Davey Smith said the peak has yet to come.
“Over the next three, four weeks, there’ll be a lot of us San Diegans who get infected,” Smith said.
This year, federal policy changes have shifted how COVID-19 vaccines are rolled out. Instead of broad Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommendations, new Food and Drug Administration rules now limit which groups providers can vaccinate. A delayed meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, pushed to mid-September, has also slowed clear guidance. Providers and pharmacies rely on that guidance to know who they can vaccinate and whether insurance will cover it.
“That confusion leads to mistrust in us doctors, and us public health officials, and our government,” Smith said.
California allows adults 65 and older and people with health conditions to get vaccinated without a prescription. But Smith said pharmacies remain in a tough spot because they deliver 90% of all vaccines.
He still recommends boosters for healthy younger adults.
“Even people who are not older than 65 and don’t have an immunocompromising condition can get very sick … and there’s also the risk of long COVID,” he said.
He said boosters also help against new variants.
“When this new variant comes, then more of us are going to be at risk, more of us are going to get infected, and the peaks are going to be higher,” he said.
As of Aug. 28, only 16% of eligible residents in San Diego County are vaccinated. Smith warned that low uptake, combined with tighter rules, could leave more people vulnerable as infections spread.
