First Weekend Eligible Adults Can Receive Pfizer's COVID-19 Booster Shot In Los Angeles County

BURBANK (CBSLA) - This weekend marks the first opportunity that eligible adults have access to a third Pfizer COVID-19 shot in Los Angeles County.

"It's worse to be in a hospital dying than to take any small risk you believe their might be with the vaccine," Liz Klimphinger, who just received her booster shot, said. "I feel a lot more protected. Now, is it a 100% that I can't get anything? No. But I feel the most protected that I possible can, that I'm doing my part.

Experts say what's important to know, aside from who is eligible, is that those seeking the booster shot must have originally received the Pfizer series of the vaccine.

Eligible adults include those 65 and older, as well as those 18-64 with underlying conditions and frontline workers.

A local emergency physician, Dr. Angeulique Campen, from Providence St. Joseph Medical Center, said it's important to understand that the booster shot does not mean that the vaccine is failing. As the name suggests, the third dose is giving the immune system a boost.

"It's going to improve what's called your B-cell immune response, which helps you fight infection more quickly," Dr. Campen said.

For people trying to figure out if they're in one of the high-risk categories or not, Campen suggests having a conversation with their doctor.

As Klimphinger sat for her waiting period after the shot, she said she's grateful to see vaccine efforts reach this new milestone.

"It's not only for the health of one, but for the community, for everyone, and it's available and that itself is already great," she said.

People who received either the Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccine should not get the Pfizer booster, but both pharmaceutical companies in the process of having their booster shots approved.