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Our hearts pump oxygen and nutrients through our blood to all parts of our body, making it one of our most important organs. A COVID-19 infection can damage the heart by destroying tissue, making it pump less efficiently or causing irregular heartbeats. The best way to protect yourself from heart-related COVID-19 issues, especially if you have a heart condition, is to get all vaccinated and boosted and take safety precautions such as wearing a well-fitting mask in crowded indoor spaces.
Federal authorities today authorized the use of new updated bivalent COVID-19 boosters for people 12 and older, and the updated boosters are expected to be available in Oregon as early as next week.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today endorsed a recommendation by its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and approved both the Pfizer and Moderna bivalent boosters for use. The recommendation comes after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the new mRNA bivalent boosters, which add an Omicron BA.4/5 spike protein component to the current vaccine composition, on Wednesday. Both boosters are designed to prevent severe illness and hospitalization from a broader range of viral strains, including the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants that account for the overwhelming majority of recent COVID-19 infections in Oregon and nationally.
The updated boosters are a single dose that can be administered two months after an initial two-dose series of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, or two months after a monovalent booster of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. The updated boosters can be administered regardless of which vaccine series a person received. The Moderna bivalent booster is authorized only for persons 18 years of age and older; the Pfizer booster can be given to persons at least 12 years of age. The older monovalent vaccines are no longer authorized for booster doses.
Before the updated boosters are available in Oregon, the panel of scientific experts comprising the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup, which includes Oregon, Washington, California and Nevada, must review and recommend the bivalent boosters. The group is scheduled to meet tonight.
The federal government program that offers free at-home COVID-19 test kits will be suspended tomorrow, Friday, Sept. 2, pending additional funding by Congress.
Each U.S. residential address can receive up to 16 free at-home test kits, delivered by U.S. mail. If you haven’t ordered tests for your home and would like to, go to COVID.gov/tests and order today.
You can also order by calling 1-800-232-0233.
If you have insurance you can get eight additional tests per person per month, paid for by your health plan or through reimbursement.
For more testing resources, check out our COVID-19 testing site blog. To find a clinic near you, use the Get Vaccinated Oregon locator tool. You can also visit this federal website to look for low- or no-cost testing resources near you including at local public health centers and pharmacies.
 
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