The Eau Claire City-County Health Department is holding two evening fall COVID-19 booster clinics. The fall booster doses are free and no insurance is necessary, according to the Eau Claire City-County Health Department.

The two booster clinics will take place from 5-7 p.m. on Sept. 21 and Oct. 5 at the UW-Eau Claire Water St. parking lot, located at 101 Chippewa St., Eau Claire. 

William Searles, AMI clinical group manager, said, “Our basic throughput is 50 patients an hour.”

Searles said it is important to get the new booster as it is bivalent, meaning it targets the original strain of COVID-19, as well as Omicron specific strains BA.4 and BA.5.

“People 12 and older, including college students, should get an updated booster at least two months after their last shot, even if they’ve already gotten a booster dose,” said Kristy Polden, public health nurse of the Eau Claire City-County Health Department.

Polden said the Eau Claire City-County Health Department wants to stay on top of providing the new recommended formula to the community.

“For the college population, getting up to date will help to mitigate the spread of COVID on campus and throughout our community,” Polden said.

Angela Milas, R.N. clinic nurse manager at UW-Eau Claire Health services, said the new booster is one way to prevent sickness from spreading throughout campus.

“We would encourage students to get vaccinated because it reduces the risk of illness and other health related complications and protects those who can not get vaccinated,” Milas said.

Milas said that UW-Eau Claire Health Services is working on planning more clinics in collaboration with the Eau Claire City-County Health Department in early October.

Joe Kalscheur, risk and preparedness specialist of the Eau Claire City-County Health Department, spoke on making appointments for evening clinics.

“I would definitely recommend pre-registering, otherwise it is unknown if there will be any walk-ins available at the time,” Kalscheur said.

Kalscheur said that with the first date of the clinic being very busy, it is highly encouraged to make an appointment to be sure to be able to obtain the booster at the evening clinics.

To make an appointment, people can visit vaccinate.wi.gov or call (844) 684-1064. The Eau Claire City-County Health Department, recommends people to bring their vaccine card if they are able to.

Polden said that if the times of the evening booster clinics conflict with a person’s schedule, they can visit vaccines.gov to see if there are other locations to obtain the fall booster.

According to the Eau Claire City-County Health Department, the fall boosters are recommended and available to anyone age 12 and older who have already been vaccinated against COVID. The last dose of any COVID vaccine must be over two months ago to be eligible.

The Eau Claire City-County Health Department media release said the first and second doses of the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccines are also available at the booster clinics for ages as young as six months old.

Parking for the fall booster clinics is free in the parking lot or on surrounding streets. More information and location maps can be found in the Eau Claire City-County Health Department media release.

O’Brien can be reached at [email protected].