Local Doctor Discusses Booster Shots

Thousands of people are becoming fully vaccinated but the threat of the pandemic is still prominent for many. Twin States News spoke to a Meridian doctor on why people over fifty should be getting a booster shot.

Dr. Otis Gowdy tells us that whether you are completely healthy or have a chronic underlying disease, people over the age of fifty being fully vaccinated and boosted will help curve some of the issues they could have if tested positive for COVID.

“As we get older, there are usually more health conditions, chronic health conditions that become more prevalent, stated Gowdy. “Conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, as well as kidney disease. And we see, you know, those types of patients with chronic illnesses, such as those are at increased risk of having issues with different ailments, particularly the COVID vaccine.”

To be fully vaccinated doctors recommend that you go through a full series of vaccination plus receive at least one booster. Meaning that you receive both doses of the vaccine. You should have received at least three shots in total to be fully protected.

“If you are five and older, you should at least have the first two series. If you are 12 and older, then you should have those series, the first two series, and at least the booster. And now if you are 50 and older, you should have the first two series, the booster and the second booster shot”, explained Dr. Gowdy.

There have been more than three million doses of the vaccine given in Mississippi, but that does not mean that the pandemic is over.

“The virus is still there. We are still seeing across the world that, you know, there are still a lot of people who have not been vaccinated. Therefore, the pandemic is still in play, even with the Omicron and the Omicron variant that has happened that, you know, start at different parts of the world. It just takes a matter of a week or so for something that happened in one part of the world for it to have a major impact in this country or in our local community. So, the health care community is still very much on the alert to make sure that people continue to practice safe practices; that is getting vaccinated, getting, boosted.”

There is now a variant of the omicron known as BA.2. Dr. Gowdy tells me that it is just as contagious as the omicron but the severity of the BA.2 is still in question