More than half of Sonoma County seniors have received COVID booster, officials say

As Sonoma County residents prepare for Thanksgiving gatherings, the question of whether to get a COVID-19 booster is top of mind, with older residents likely exhibiting more concern than younger ones.

According to the latest public health data, 53% of local residents 65 and older who are eligible for a booster shot have received one. That’s 43,536 fully vaccinated seniors who have gotten an additional COVID-19 vaccine shot.

In contrast, only 12% of eligible residents between 18 and 49 — or 13,976 people — have gotten their COVID booster.

But local health officials say they’re less worried about making sure younger, fully inoculated residents get their boosters than they are about protecting more vulnerable populations.

That includes those who are wholly unvaccinated; seniors whose COVID-19 protection could be waning; and kids 5 to 11 who only recently became eligible for the vaccine.

“The focus is still on pediatric vaccinations … and also on boosters for elderly and at-risk groups,” said Dr. Sundari Mase, the county’s health officer.

Mase said that with more than half of all eligible residents 65 and older already receiving a booster, the local campaign to address waning protection is “going well.”

Last week, local health officials expanded the pool of people eligible for booster shots to include all adults age 18 and older who were vaccinated more than six months ago. The expansion aligned the county with state public health guidance that allowed people to assess their own risk of COVID-19 exposure.

Previously, only higher-risk individuals were eligible for boosters under guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Kathryn Pack, health program manager for the county's epidemiology team, said the CDC urges the following to get a booster as soon as possible: people 50 and older; people with underlying medical conditions; people who work in high-risk settings or live in long-term care settings; and all recipients of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

“Fortunately, our younger population is not as vulnerable as those in the older age groups to post-vaccination infections of COVID-19 and worse outcomes from those infections,” Pack said in an email.

However, Pack said that state health officials recommend younger, healthier residents to receive the booster if it has been 6 months since they received their Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or 2 months since receiving the J&J vaccine.

Local officials stress, though, that they are mainly concerned about at-risk groups.

Mase said the county’s focus on the elderly, children 5 to 11, the medically vulnerable and the unvaccinated is not meant to discourage anyone from getting a booster if they think they need it.

“Anyone who feels like they’re at risk should get a booster,” she said. “We’re not trying to discourage anyone.”

As of Sunday, 346,616 Sonoma County residents 5 and older — nearly three quarters of the county’s eligible population — have been fully vaccinated. Another 35,918 residents, or 8% of the eligible population, have been partially vaccinated.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @pressreno.