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COVID-19 Vaccine Boosters and Flu Vaccination Clinics

September 28, 2021

Dear University community members:

We write to share some important and exciting updates about newly approved booster doses of COVID-19 vaccine and flu vaccination on campus and at SLUCare sites. 

Update on COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine booster doses

Last week, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) approved the administration of a COVID-19 booster shot of Pfizer-BioNTech to anyone who is 65 years or older, or in one of the other high-risk groups. Monday afternoon, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services approved this approach and added it to their Standing Orders for vaccination sites. 

We are now able to provide a booster dose to those who are eligible. 

At this time, the FDA and CDC have only approved a booster dose to those who completed the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine series more than 6 months ago and who fall into one of the categories below:

You are not required to receive a booster dose in order to be compliant with our COVID-19 vaccination policy at this time.

Persons who received the Moderna or Johnson and Johnson (Janssen) vaccine are not yet eligible for a booster dose.  We expect these booster doses to be approved later this year.

The list of medical conditions categorized as high-risk by the CDC and for which the Pfizer booster dose is approved is available here. If you have an underlying medical condition, please speak to your healthcare provider about whether a booster shot is right for you.

You will not need to provide evidence of meeting the eligibility criteria for a booster dose. You will be asked to attest that you meet one of the criteria above.

Pfizer COVID-19 booster shots will be provided anywhere the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is available. The booster dose is the same as the original two-dose series. You do not need to get your booster shot at the same location you received your initial series. 

SLU continues to offer vaccine clinics on campus; you can register for an appointment here. Walk in appointments are not available for Pfizer at this time, due to limited doses this week. We have ordered more vaccine for next week and will hopefully be able to reopen to walk in appointments. You may also receive your booster dose at another vaccination site, using Missouri’s vaccine navigator site that allows you to search by zip code and vaccine brand to find an appointment.

We ask for your patience while federal and state regulatory approvals play out for Moderna and J&J booster doses. 

The FDA panel indicated that the data for giving booster doses to other individuals is still lacking and/or conflicting right now. This assessment may change in the upcoming weeks or months. But for now, we may only provide a booster dose to individuals who have been approved by the FDA, CDC, and the State of Missouri. 

Flu vaccine clinic update

Saint Louis University has already begun administering on-campus flu shots for all students, staff and faculty. Demand has been far greater than it was last year.

The next clinics will be held on these Tuesdays: September 28 and October 12 and 19. Please visit www.slu.edu/ScheduleMyFluShot to schedule a time and location that works best for you. Walk-ins are also welcome. 

The Office of Employee Health also is arranging additional flu vaccination clinics for our healthcare employees and clinical students. Most of these clinics will take place in the Legacy hospital. The first clinic is scheduled for Friday, October 1. Details will be provided in Newslink very soon. 

Thanks for all that you do to keep our OneSLU community healthy!

Stay safe and be well.

Terri Rebmann, Ph.D., RN, CIC, FAPIC
Special Assistant to the President
Director, Institute for Biosecurity
Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
College for Public Health and Social Justice