Question: When will the new COVID-19 booster shots be available in Hawaii? Where will be able to get them? Will there be mass-vaccination clinics? Will the shots still be free?

Answer: “New bivalent boosters may be available in Hawaii as soon as next week,” Brooks Baehr, a spokesperson for Hawaii’s Department of Health, said in an email Wednesday, adding that the DOH will know more after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issues recommendations, possibly as soon as today . The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is scheduled to meet today, following Wednesday’s authorization of updated booster shots by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; see more at 808ne.ws/fdaauth.

As for your other questions, assuming the CDC recommends them, the omicron-specific booster shots would be offered for free, at pharmacies, health centers and clinics through Hawaii; the health department isn’t organizing mass-vaccination sites, Baehr said. “If bivalent boosters are recommended for use, people will be able to find vaccination locations on the vaccine locator map at hawaiicovid19.com/vaccine,” he said.

A bivalent vaccine sparks an immune response against two antigens. The bivalent boosters — one made by Pfizer-BioNTech and the other by Moderna — target the original COVID-19 strain and omicron subvariants responsible for most new U.S. cases.

The health department has pre-ordered 37,800 doses (27,300 of Pfizer-­BioNTech and 10,500 of Moderna), Baehr said. Pfizer-BioNTech’s version is for people as young as 12 and Moderna’s is for those 18 and older. The bivalent booster is a single dose, given at least two months after primary COVID-19 vaccination or a previously authorized booster shot.

With Wednesday’s authorization of the bivalent booster, the FDA took previously authorized monovalent mRNA COVID-19 vaccines off the table as booster shots for people 12 and older. Anyone in that age group with a booster-­shot appointment in the next few days should check with their provider; they’ll likely have to reschedule their appointment.

CVS, a major vaccine provider in Hawaii through its Longs Drug stores, posted this notice on its pharmacy website Wednesday: “An updated COVID-19 booster was authorized by the FDA on 8/31/2022. Appointments made prior to the FDA authorization must be canceled while we await ACIP approval of the updated booster and inventory to begin arriving in stores. We expect to receive vaccines on a rolling basis over the next few days. Please reschedule your appointment pending vaccine availability on CVS.com or in the CVS app.”

Q: Unfortunately, I caught COVID-19 for the first time this summer. I was vaccinated and had two booster shots and I was able to get medication and I felt better quickly. However, my sister also caught it and she got very sick, sicker than either of us expected considering how mild we’d heard it was supposed to be by now. We are both better, fully recovered. We want to get the new booster once it’s approved, but how long are we supposed to wait?

A: The CDC says people who have recovered from COVID-19 may delay their next vaccine dose — whether it’s a primary dose or a booster shot — until it’s been three months since their symptoms began or they received a positive test. That advice was issued before the FDA’s authorization of the new bivalent booster shots, so we’ll be on the lookout for any updated advice from the CDC in the coming days. Since fairly early in the pandemic, experts have cited an immune response of 90 days or more after a person was infected.

Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.