‘Get your booster now,’ state health officials advise after omicron identified in SC
State health officials are encouraging vaccinated residents to roll up their sleeves for COVID-19 booster shots following reports that the omicron variant has been identified in South Carolina.
“For fully vaccinated people, the message is, if you’re eligible and you haven’t gotten it, get your booster now,” Dr. Brannon Traxler, the state’s public health director, said Wednesday, shortly after scientists announced the identification of three omicron cases in the state.
Traxler stressed that anyone age 5 and older should get fully vaccinated as soon as possible, and anyone 16 and older who is vaccinated should seek out a booster as soon as they’re eligible. Residents are eligible for a booster shot six months after the completion of their initial vaccine series.
“We know especially that getting your booster shot when you’re due really helps to increase your antibody levels and your protection against omicron variant,” she said.
Omicron has spread rapidly throughout the globe since being identified in South Africa last month and has been labeled a “variant of concern” by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention due to its increased transmissibility and ability to sidestep existing vaccines.
While two doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were found to be minimally effective at preventing omicron infection, a booster dose of either vaccine is believed to offer a substantial increase in protection, White House Chief Medical Advisor Anthony Fauci said Wednesday.
Fauci said there was no need for a specific omicron booster at this time, given the effectiveness of existing booster shots, but stressed the importance of vaccination, including booster shots for people who already have completed a two-dose mRNA vaccine regimen.
In South Carolina, about 51% of residents age 5 and older have completed vaccination, meaning they’ve gotten a single dose of Johnson & Johnson or two doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, according to the Department of Health and Environmental Control.
About a quarter of fully vaccinated South Carolinians, roughly 643,000 people, have gotten a third shot, state health data shows. Traxler said that number includes immunocompromised people who got an additional shot to enhance their immune response and people who received boosters, with the majority of third doses being administered as booster shots.
Omicron found in SC
Earlier in the day Wednesday, the Medical University of South Carolina announced that scientists in its molecular pathology laboratory had identified the state’s first three omicron cases.
All three cases were in fully vaccinated adults in Charleston County who experienced only mild symptoms.
The omicron variant, which early evidence indicates spreads even more rapidly than delta, has been identified in more than two-dozen states and is expected to become dominant in many countries by the end of the year.
It currently makes up about 3% of cases in the U.S., according to CDC projections, up from just 0.4% last week.
While South Carolina could see an explosion of omicron infections in the coming weeks, including among vaccinated people, scientists are hopeful cases will be milder in vaccinated people, especially ones who have gotten a booster.
A CDC analysis of 43 omicron cases identified in 22 U.S. states during the first week of December found that nearly 80% of the people infected were fully vaccinated, including nearly a third who had gotten booster shots.
The most commonly reported symptoms were cough, fatigue and congestion or runny nose.
Only one of the omicron patients required a brief hospitalization and none have died, according to the CDC.
Residents advised to keep their guards up
Traxler said the state has been preparing for a winter surge in COVID-19 cases for some time and emphasized the importance of residents continuing to take precautions like masking indoors and social distancing.
“We have gotten to this point in the holiday season doing much better than we did at this time last year,” she said. “However, we are not out of the woods and it’s not a reason for people to let their guards down.”
Traxler said she didn’t necessarily think the discovery of omicron in South Carolina made a winter surge more likely, but didn’t rule out an omicron-fueled jump in cases.
“Looking at what omicron has done in other places, like in the United Kingdom and even in some states here where it was identified sooner, we certainly could see a significant increase in cases due to it,” she said. “But regardless of whether the increase in cases was due to unvaccinated people who aren’t masked spreading delta around or people spreading omicron around, our concern has still been the same thing, and that’s to prevent serious illness and death.”
State health officials aren’t currently advising people to take additional precautions due to omicron’s ability to evade both vaccine-induced and natural immunity, but Traxler said it might not be a bad idea for vaccinated people to wear a mask in group settings.
“Certainly people who are fully vaccinated and even boosted, considering omicron, may consider if they want to wear a mask when they’re going to be around a group of people,” she said. “That’s really an individual decision, but I wouldn’t fault anyone if they wanted to wear a mask as an extra layer of protection on top of their vaccination and booster.”
This story was originally published December 15, 2021 at 3:01 PM.