To the Fairfax County Community,
I hope your holiday season is off to a safe and healthy start!
This has been a confusing couple of weeks parsing through the news of the Omicron variant of COVID-19. There is a lot of information we do not know yet about Omicron, but we don't want people to panic. Researchers around the world are conducting studies to better understand many aspects of Omicron and will continue to share the findings of these studies as they become available.
As part of ongoing disease surveillance, CDC and the Virginia Department of Health are closely monitoring the emergence of this variant. To see Variants of Concern that have been identified in Virginia, visit the VDH Variants Dashboard.
That said, with the emergence of the Omicron variant, the Fairfax County Health Department joins the CDC in strengthening our recommendation that individuals 18 and older get a booster shot. People should get their booster either six months after their initial Pfizer or Moderna series or two months after their initial J&J vaccine.
Getting vaccinated reduces your risk of severe illness, hospitalization, and death; it also helps reduce the spread of the virus in the communities.
Sign up for your appointment here.
In addition, the Board met today. You may review today's full Board package here.