New COVID-19 booster coming to Yakima as cases continue to drop

COVID-19 numbers in Yakima County continued to drop for the fifth consecutive week. Federal health officials are anticipating a nationwide spike in COVID cases during the winter months. The FDA and CDC approved Pizfer and Moderna’s bivalent COID-19 booster vaccines earlier in the week. The bivalent vaccine is designed to combat the most common COVID subvariants. The federal government has already purchased 171 million doses of the new booster, but stock will initially be in short supply as deliveries are made across the country. State health officials ask residents to be patient and to prioritize the vaccine for high-risk individuals. The state has pre-ordered 191,900 booster doses to be sent to different health facilities across the state. . . .