CDC: Older Adults, Immunocompromised Should Consider Second COVID-19 Shot

The CDC has made new recommendations on who might need a second dose of the new COVID-19 vaccine.

The new recommendations impact those who are 65 and older, as well as people who are moderately or severely immunocompromised.

The CDC said it recommends people who fall into those categories and have already received a first dose of the new COVID-19 vaccine, to get a second one after about six months.

The Tulsa Health Department said these recommendations allow for more flexibility for even more doses for those who are immunocompromised down the road.

"I do want to stress that you check with your health care provider because there is a schedule that does go along with the CDC recommendations and that your provider would have that may recommend even more than two, up to three vaccines," JP Williams with the Tulsa Health Department said.

Williams said the protection the vaccine offers does diminish over time, so an extra dose for those who choose to get the vaccine can offer more protection.

"We just want to keep it at a very robust level of protection," Williams said. "We know that those individuals are certainly more vulnerable so we want to keep their immune systems as healthy as possible."

The CDC said the latest vaccines strengthen protection from serious cases of the current COVID-19 variants that are currently causing the most infections and hospitalizations in the United States.

The CDC also said getting the vaccine can also reduce the chance of suffering from long COVID.