Health Center Offering Updated Moderna Booster
WACO, Texas (Sept. 13, 2022) – The Baylor University Health Center has received a shipment of Moderna’s new bivalent COVID-19 booster vaccine, which is available now for Baylor students, faculty and staff.
“This booster gives improved immunity to omicron variants and should be more effective than previous booster doses,” said Sharon Stern, M.D., medical director of Baylor Health Services. “We are encouraging everyone who can take them to get both COVID and flu vaccines prior to the winter.
“We are helping ourselves not get sick when we get vaccinated, but perhaps even more importantly, we are protecting those around us who are at risk or unable to get the vaccine,” Stern said.
The new Moderna booster dose can be given to adults 18 and older at least two months after previous doses. It cannot be given as an initial series, Dr. Stern said, but “it can be booster dose No. 3, 4, 5, etc., just not the initial first or second doses” of either the Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines.
“As long as they are in that age range (18+), and they have completed the initial series at least two months prior, they can receive the new Moderna booster dose,” she said.
The Baylor Health Center, located on the second floor of the McLane Student Life Center, offers vaccination appointments on Thursdays and Fridays from 1 to 4:10 p.m. for first, second and booster doses to employees and students, as well as spouses and dependents* of employees and students.
How to Make a Vaccination Appointment
Vaccination appointments for Baylor students, faculty and staff: Students, faculty and staff can make appointments for themselves online for a COVID-19 or flu vaccination by logging in to the Health Portal on the Baylor Health Center website.
Vaccination appointments for dependents and spouses: Baylor faculty and staff must call the Baylor Health Center at 254-710-1010 to make an appointment for COVID vaccination for dependents* and spouses. These appointments cannot be made online.
Dr. Stern expects that the COVID vaccine to become a yearly shot just like the flu vaccine that is adjusted for dominant variants.
*NOTE: Only the initial dose of the Pfizer vaccine is available for dependents 12-17 years of age. The Health Center is not offering the Pfizer pediatric vaccine.
ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY
Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked Research 1 institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 20,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 90 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.