Effort underway to get COVID-19 boosters to homebound seniors

MIAMI – An area wide effort is underway to help vulnerable seniors get their Covid booster shots.

Florida Community Care is vaccinating thousands of homebound seniors, giving them much needed protection against infection as we approach the holiday season.

“We need to be protected year round but during the holidays we have friends and family gathering and we need to have our vaccinations if we don’t have it, or our boosters and therefore these individuals have that need and are as needing of immunizations as we do,” said Dr. Frank Astor, Chief Medical Officer for Florida Community Care, a subsidiary of Independent Living Systems.

Nurses are visiting member patients at nursing homes and private residences, reaching over 2,000 seniors so far.

Also on the Covid front, a University of Florida researcher has successfully analyzed the many mutations of the omicron variant, which is a crucial step in better understanding it’s potential threat.

Immunologist Dr. David Ostrov found 14 mutations with the Omicron variant, compared with just two in the Delta variant.

Ostrov said the findings are a starting point for figuring out ways to contain and neutralize the variant.

Last month, Ostrov and his colleagues published results showing a combination of an over-the-counter antihistamine and a protein found in cow’s milk reduce virus replication by 99 percent in human and monkey cells.


About the Authors:

Kristi Krueger has built a solid reputation as an award-winning medical reporter and effervescent anchor. She joined Local 10 in August 1993. After many years co-anchoring the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m., Kristi now co-anchors the noon newscasts, giving her more time in the evening with her family.

Veteran journalist Kathleen Corso is the special projects producer for Local 10 News.