MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Beginning Monday, the Tennessee Department of Health will administer booster shots to a larger demographic.
This follows the CDC's expanding eligibility.
People that are 65 years and older are eligible for a booster shot. The eligibility expands to people 18 and older who either live in a long-term care setting, have underlying medical conditions and who work or live in high-risk settings.
The CDC said people who got Pfizer or Moderna are eligible for a booster six months after getting their second shot. People who received the Johnson & Johnson shot are eligible two months after getting it.
Booster shots are not required to be the same initial vaccine someone received. The CDC has endorsed a "mix and match" approach for boosters.
"We saw data from the NIH on mix and match that antibody levels for the MRNA vaccines boosting the J&J were really, really high," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said. "We also saw clinical data from J&J that said if you're boosted with J&J, you actually do quite well as well. Which is why we've really left it open and said any one of these vaccines can really be used to boost any one of the others."
The priority remains getting first shots to people who are unvaccinated.
Over the weekend, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland tweeted that the city hit a milestone with hitting a half million peopled in the county getting vaccinated.