For immediate release: March 2, 2022 (22-032)
Contact: DOH Communications
Everyone 12 and older should receive a booster dose as soon as they are eligible
OLYMPIA – Vaccine booster dose data is now available on the Washington State Department of Health’s (DOH) COVID-19 Data Dashboard. The added data includes “People who Received a Booster Dose” and “People Eligible for a Booster Dose” broken down at the state and county-levels by sex, age, and race/ethnicity coverage.
As of Feb. 28, a total of 2,648,723 people across the state have received a booster dose. A booster dose is an additional dose of any COVID-19 vaccine administered to someone age 12 or older, including certain immunocompromised people who received a third dose. The newly added booster dose data can be found by selecting the “Vaccinations” tab and navigating to the sections titled “How many people are getting vaccinated?” and “Who is getting vaccinated?”
Everyone 12 and older should receive a booster dose at least five months after receiving the second dose of an mRNA vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna) or two months after receiving the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. A third dose is recommended for certain immunocompromised individuals who did not adequately develop immunities with the initial two-dose vaccine series. Those who are eligible to receive a fourth dose are only counted once.
“COVID-19 vaccines offer powerful protection against severe illness, hospitalization, and death, and booster shots extend that protection,” said Tao Sheng Kwan-Gett, MD, MPH, Chief Science Officer. “Adding booster dose data to the dashboard gives us a better understanding of vaccination rates across our state.”
Due to a difference in the denominator, booster dose coverage on the dashboard may appear higher than coverage rates for people initiating vaccination and people who are fully vaccinated. The denominator for boosters includes everyone 12 and older who is fully vaccinated and eligible for a booster dose, whereas vaccination coverage includes the total population of Washingtonians age 5 and older. Booster doses are not shown for people ages 5 through 11 because the age group is not currently authorized to receive a booster. In keeping with DOH’s Small Number Guidance, county-level booster counts may be suppressed to protect people’s privacy. Additionally, due to limitations with small area population estimates and people moving out of Washington state, vaccination coverage rates may exceed 100% for certain age or race/ethnicity groups.
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