New booster aimed at dominant COVID variant available soon

A new COVID booster shot that targets the current dominant Omicron variant may be available after Labor Day.

Dr. Clay Marsh, state COVID-19 Czar, said Thursday during Gov. Jim Justice’s pandemic briefing Pfizer developed the booster to better handle the Omicron BA.5 variant, now the dominant variant in West Virginia and in the country.

Marsh said the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) will meeting Sept. 1-2 and is most likely to approve the booster.

“Then the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) must sign off and we do anticipate that happening fairly soon,” he said.

Once the CDC gives the green light the boosters will be available “almost immediately,” he added.

That is important because COVID is still here, he said, with 174,000 new cases reported in the country on Wednesday with 939 deaths. On Thursday, West Virginia reported 1,052 new cases and 8 more deaths, bringing the total death toll to 7,261.

Marsh said the boosters are effective in helping to prevent severe symptoms from COVID as well as hospitalizations.

He also said Paxlovid, a treatment for COVID, works “very well” for those over 65 and more data show the treatment is “highly effective.”

Jeff Miller, executive director of the Parkways Turnpike Authority, also spoke during the briefing about the tractor-trailer crash on the turnpike at mile marker 62.5 that shut down all lanes because it was carrying hazardous material.

Miller said all traffic was detoured after the crash, which happened at 12:30 a.m. on Thursday, and traffic continued to be diverted Thursday afternoon as haz-mat crews were on the scene clearing the area.

Miller said the truck lost control and landed upside down cross the median on the Skitter Creek Bridge, then burst into flames.

The driver was not injured or identified but Justice said the cause of accident was “falling right back into the lap of the driver.”

“This situation that has happened on the turnpike is crippling,” he said, but all agencies involved were “working as hard as they can” to clean it up and reopen the turnpike.

— Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com