KOKOMO — When you get your first shot of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, the countdown begins to get the second shot.
A Howard County couple fearing they would not get their second COVID shot reached out to WRTV for help.
J.B. and Belinda Jones will mark their 65th wedding anniversary in July. The couple can't wait for the pandemic to be over. All they want is to sit in at McDonald's, enjoy a cup of coffee no sugar and cherry pie. They haven't been to a restaurant since March 2020.
"We don't go anyplace. We get groceries at 6 in the morning when old people go," Belinda said. "We're really serious. We wear the mask. We wear gloves. We wear glasses. Nobody wants to die."
Belinda got her first Pfizer shot on Jan. 25. J.B. got his a day later. Their second shot was canceled because of the recent snowstorm.
The delay concerns their son, Mark.
"The age. My mom has diabetes," Mark said. "Asthma too. They get it. I don't want them to get it. If they get it, it will be tough on them and they risk the chance of dying."
The couple's son called 211 to reschedule their vaccination. The next available date for them in Howard County was March 10. That was more than the 21 days recommended for the second dose of the Pfizer shot.
"If I hadn't gotten the first shot, I wouldn't be contacting you," J.B. said.
WRTV reached out to the Indiana State Department of Health who stands by the guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC said the second dose should be administered as close to the recommended interval as possible. If there is a delay in vaccination, the CDC said "the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines may be administered up to 6 weeks (42 days) after the first dose. There are currrently limited data on efficacy of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines administered beyond this window. If the second dose is administered beyond these intervals, there is no need to restart the series."
"But now that I got the first one, I need that second one according to what they tell you on TV," J.B. said.
WRTV reached out to the Howard County Health Department, who pointed the couple to St. Vincent Hospital in Kokomo. The couple received their second dose last week.
