LDH: No need to restart vaccine series if delayed
BATON ROUGE—The Louisiana Department Health on Thursday told Louisiana residents that missed their second COVID vaccine dose appointments last or next week can safely delay the second dose days or weeks if need be.
The Center for Disease Control has said it expects last week’s severe winter weather to cause widespread delays in vaccine shipments.
Louisiana is one such state feeling the impact — both first and second vaccine deliveries to the state have been delayed. Unfortunately, that means vaccine appointments and events scheduled for this week will need to be adjusted based on delivery.
So what if a second dose of COVID vaccine is delayed due to vaccine shortages, weather events, or a person misses it? What do they do?
If they have received the Moderna vaccine, ideally their second shot should be given 28 days after their first one. If they get the Pfizer vaccine, the second dose should be given 21 days after the first.
But in a pinch, they can safely delay the second dose up to 42 days and likely longer after the first dose if need be, according to the CDC.
The CDC guidance states that the second dose should be administered as close to the recommended interval as possible, but the shot will still be effective if there is a short delay in getting the second dose. There is no need to restart the vaccination series if the second dose must be delayed.
A few tips from the Louisiana Department of Health:
Make sure to communicate with the doctor or vaccination site at the time of your first dose to get a second shot appointment.
If the appointment is cancelled due to delivery delays, weather, or you miss it, call the site to be rescheduled. Make sure to let the site know you need your second dose, and what date your first dose was administered on.
Even though it is acceptable to delay the second dose days or weeks if need be, it should still be the goal to get this second dose on time (21 days after a first dose of the Pfizer vaccine or 28 days after a first dose of the Moderna vaccine).
In addition, the LDH reminds state residents to save the number 877-766-2130 in theirphone
Anyone who receives a call from 877-766-2130 is urged to answer, as the call is from a contact tracer who will keep an individual’s information private.
Personal information is used to quickly identify anyone a COVID-positive individual may have been in close contact with to help contain the spread of the coronavirus.
