UCA no longer offers COVID-19 vaccines but will offer free tests while supplies last.

The FDA withdrew its authorization for bivalent COVID-19 vaccines Sept. 11 and authorized an updated version, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends for everyone six months and older.

In a campuswide Sept. 19 email, Medical Director Dr. Randy Pastor said, “Since this new monovalent vaccine is no longer paid for by the federal or state government, the UCA Student Health Center will not be able to offer it to our community, and we recommend that you obtain one at a local pharmacy.”

He said faculty and staff with UCA’s health insurance, Blue Advantage, could get 100% of the cost of the new vaccine covered at a pharmacy.

“If you have a different insurance plan, you may want to check with them to see if they will cover it as well,” the email said.

Pastor said, “We currently have a supply of tests on hand that will last through the end of this semester, and possibly into the start of next semester. Although no definite plans have been made yet, we’re hopeful that we can continue doing COVID-19 tests in the Student Health Center in some capacity.”

The federal government resumed its program of mailing out free at-home COVID-19 tests Sept. 25. Households can sign up at covid.gov/tests.

Pastor said the new vaccines “continue to use the mRNA technology like they always have.”

“They’ve been updated to include a monovalent/single component of a more recent variant, the XBB.1.5,” he said.

“The CDC and FDA, along with most experts, believe that matching it with a more recent variant will provide better protection, so I anticipate that the COVID-19 vaccines will be updated every year just like the flu vaccines are,” Pastor said.

Benjamin Rowley, a professor with a doctoral degree in immunology and microbiology, said, “This valency term is just related to the number of strains each vaccine provides protection against.”

“The monovalent vaccine just being rolled out provides protection against a subvariant known as XBB.1.5. This itself is related to the Omicron variant that people are familiar with from the last year or so,” he said.

He said the bivalent vaccine was designed to fight older Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 and are “not useful” anymore.

“Oddly, the most recent circulating version in our populations isn’t exactly XBB.1.5, either,” Rowley said. 

“It’s yet another subvariant of Omicron known as EG.5, nicknamed ‘Eris.’ But testing shows that protection against XBB.1.5 should confer sufficient protection against the latest EG.5 subvariant, as well, so the FDA approved this new monovalent shot, and the CDC recommended it, and it’s being rolled out to the public now.

“We’re tracking what’s circulating out there, and doing our best to rapidly meet what’s circulating with vaccines that provide protection against it. It takes time to formulate new shots and test them for safety, so it’s a rough game to play in a fast way,” he said.

Rowley said the new vaccines could prevent COVID-19 from gaining a foothold.

“If the virus gets a foothold more thoroughly, it would lead to greater spread, more cases, more hospitalizations, and more deaths,” Rowley said. “The more people go and get the newest monovalent shot early this fall, the better the community as a whole will be protected.”

“We’re still definitely not where we were in the early days of the pandemic when essentially no one had any protection against what was circulating. But, as we see with influenza, past infection and/or vaccination may not protect against what’s in circulation now,” Rowley said.

According to the CDC website, “Everyone aged 5 years and older should get one updated COVID-19 vaccine, at least two months after getting the last dose of any COVID-19 vaccine.”

“People who are moderately or severely immunocompromised may get additional doses of updated COVID-19 vaccines,” the CDC webpage states.