The Monroe County Health Department said Bivalent COVID-19 booster vaccine doses for the Omicron variant are now available by appointment. 

Appointments can be made Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to noon or 1-3:30 p.m.

These vaccines are administered at the Monroe County Health Department office located at 1315 Jamie Lane, Waterloo. 

Pfizer doses are available for ages 12 and up. Moderna doses are available for ages 18 and up. It must be at least two months since completing primary vaccinations or receiving the most recent booster dose.

Call 618-612-6695 to make an appointment. 

Those planning to get vaccinated must bring their vaccination card at the time of appointment.

Bivalent boosters are also offered by some local pharmacies by appointment. 

In related news, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently listed both Monroe and St. Clair counties at a low level in its latest COVID-19 community levels update. 

The agency categorized Randolph County among  40 counties in the state at a medium level.

The CDC’s COVID-19 community levels are updated every Thursday based on metrics from the past seven days – including new hospital admissions per 100,000 people, average percent of staffed, inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients and new cases per 100,000 people.

The most recent COVID-related death in Monroe County, as reported by the CDC and Illinois Department of Public Health, was on Aug. 12. That brought Monroe County’s overall COVID-related death count to 132.

The number of reported COVID cases in Monroe County is trending down over the past three months, with 272 from June 12 to July 12, 269 from July 12 to Aug. 12 and 229 from Aug. 12 to Sept. 12.

This compares to 316 reported COVID cases from Aug. 12 to Sept. 12, 2021.

At the spike of the Omicron variant, there were 1,607 reported COVID cases in Monroe County from Jan. 12 to Feb. 12 of this year.