COVID booster shots available to more eligible Georgia residents

ATLANTA - Starting Tuesday, health departments across Georgia will begin offering more COVID-19 booster shots to eligible residents.

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Tuesday marks the first time Moderna or Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine booster shots will be available at local Georgia health departments.

Millions of Americans are now eligible to get a booster shot, 

Georgians can also now decide which brand of booster shot they would like to get after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed off to allow people to mix and match vaccine boosters.

GEORGIA HITS 50 PERCENT VACCINATION, STILL TRAILS US AVERAGE

"For those who got Johnson & Johnson, everybody is eligible if you got your dose more than two months ago," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said.

If you initially received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, anyone 65 and older or those in groups deemed high-risk can now get a booster.

"Most people will have done very well with the initial vaccine that they got and may express a preference very much for the original vaccine series they got, having done very well.  There may be people who might prefer another vaccine over the one they received and the current CDC recommendations now make that possible," Walensky said.

WITH MILLIONS MORE CLEARED FOR BOOSTERS, AMERICANS CAN CHOOSE WHICH SHOT TO RECEIVE

The news of booster shots comes as an FDA panel meets Tuesday to talk about vaccines or children ages 5 to 11.

The panel will discuss whether to approve the Pfizer shot for that age group. If approved, 28 million children would be eligible.

Health officials are not recommending one vaccine booster over another.

They say all three vaccines are effective at raising antibody levels.

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