New Mexico Releases Vaccine Booster Guidelines

Serena Rodriguez’ kidneys failed when she was 4 1/2 months pregnant with her daughter, leading to a kidney transplant in April of 2013. Yesterday, she had her third COVID-19 vaccine shot, following approval for some immunocompromised groups, such as people who have undergone solid organ transplantation or have conditions that are considered comparably immunocompromised.

“I was very relieved, very happy and very grateful as well,” Rodriguez said.

DOH today released guidelines for the third dose, which applies only to the Moderna or Pfizer mRNA vaccines; the federal government has not approved an additional dose for the single-shot J&J vaccine. A health department news release said eligible patients are encouraged to schedule the third dose with their medical team and can also schedule a third dose through vaccineNM.org if they have selected an immune-suppressing condition in their medical profiles.

According to DOH spokesman David Morgan, the department has 30,287 people who have marked “immunocompromised” on their vaccine registry profiles who have received their first and second dose of an mRNA vaccine (the number jumps to 57,293 by adding cancer registrants).

Eligible groups include people in active treatment for solid tumor and hematologic malignancies; recipients of CAR-T-cell or hematopoietic stem cell transplant who are within two years of transplantation or taking immunosuppression therapy; people with advanced or untreated HIV infection; people with moderate or severe primary immunodeficiency; and people in active treatment with high-dose corticosteroids; alkylating agents; antimetabolites; transplant-related immunosuppressive drugs; cancer chemotherapeutic agents classified as severely immunosuppressive; tumor-necrosis blockers; and other biologic agents that are immunosuppressive (read more here).

“We encourage New Mexicans with immune-related health conditions to speak directly to their primary care physicians and specialist teams—or their pharmacists—and to get the third shot if appropriate,” DOH Acting Secretary Dr. David Scrase said in a statement.

Rodriguez says she found out on Sunday she’d be able to receive a third shot and went to CVS Monday morning. She said the process was very easy, particularly compared with the early days of the vaccines. “When the shots started rolling out…it took quite a while to be called and it was chaos, even with our governor being as wonderful as she is. And this time it was literally, I walked in and said, ‘I’m a kidney transplant patient.’”

Rodriguez, 41, says her nephrologist—kidney doctor—had said with the second shot she was likely approximately 55% covered, a statistic she paired with a very cautious year. “I was working from home, going out very little, and when I was, I was basically bathing in antibacterial and always wearing masks.” Those precautions were for herself as well as her daughter Zell, who was born premature at 24 weeks and 3 days, weighing 14 ounces. Now 9 years old, Zell’s immune system is continually strengthening, but she still has chronic lung disease and is too young at this point for either vaccine (Pfizer is approved for people 12 years and older; Moderna just for adults 18 years and older). But if and when the vaccine is approved for younger children, “I would be there in a heartbeat,” Rodriguez says.

Approval for the boosters follows approval by federal regulators in the face of rising COVID-19 cases driven by the highly transmissible Delta variant. Today, New Mexico health officials reported 1,776 new COVID-19 cases for the three-day period of Aug. 14-16, bringing the statewide total so far to 220,340. The health department has designated 198,816 of those cases as recovered.

Bernalillo County had 541 new cases, followed by Eddy County with 163 and Chaves County with 137. Santa Fe County had 65 new cases.

The state also announced five additional deaths, four recent and one—from Santa Fe County—from more than 30 days ago. There have now been 154 deaths in Santa Fe County and 4,451 statewide.

As of today, 304 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 (eight more than Friday).*

Currently, 74.9% of New Mexicans 18 years and older have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 65.9% are fully vaccinated. Among residents aged 12-18, 55% are partially vaccinated and 42.1% are fully inoculated. In Santa Fe County, among adults 18 years and older, 86.8% have had at least one dose and 76.6% are fully vaccinated.

New cases

• 541 new cases in Bernalillo County
• 6 new cases in Catron County
• 137 new cases in Chaves County
• 4 new cases in Cibola County
• 59 new cases in Curry County
• 2 new cases in De Baca County
• 114 new cases in Doña Ana County
• 163 new cases in Eddy County
• 10 new cases in Grant County
• 4 new cases in Guadalupe County
• 3 new cases in Hidalgo County
• 109 new cases in Lea County
• 23 new cases in Lincoln County
• 8 new cases in Los Alamos County
• 6 new cases in Luna County
• 51 new cases in McKinley County
• 3 new cases in Mora County
• 62 new cases in Otero County
• 10 new cases in Quay County
• 17 new cases in Rio Arriba County
• 23 new cases in Roosevelt County
• 111 new cases in Sandoval County
• 107 new cases in San Juan County
• 25 new cases in San Miguel County
• 65 new cases in Santa Fe County
• 5 new cases in Sierra County
• 5 new cases in Socorro County
• 10 new cases in Taos County
• 14 new cases in Torrance County
• 6 new cases in Union County
• 70 new cases in Valencia County
• 3 new cases among individuals held by federal agencies at the Otero County Federal Prison Facility

New fatalities

• A male in his 60s from Bernalillo County who was hospitalized
• A male in his 80s from Bernalillo County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions
• A male in his 80s from Eddy County who was hospitalized, had underlying conditions and was a resident of the Odelia Healthcare (Camino Healthcare) facility in Albuquerque
• A female in her 80s from Rio Arriba County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions

Newly reported fatalities more than 30 days old

• A female in her 40s from Santa Fe County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions

According to DOH, COVID-19 deaths are only reported upon issuance of death certificates, some of which have been delayed due to incomplete information.

Congregate facilities

The Department of Health has identified at least one positive COVID-19 case in residents and/or staff in the past 28 days at the following facilities:

Advanced Health Care in Albuquerque

• Bloomfield Nursing and Rehabilitation in Bloomfield
• The Bridge of Farmington in Farmington
• Casa de Oro in Las Cruces
• Casa Maria Health Care Center in Roswell
• Desert Springs Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Hobbs
• Elmcroft of Quintessence in Albuquerque
• Fairwinds Assisted Living in Rio Rancho
• Good Life Senior Living and Memory Care in Artesia
• Good Life Senior Living and Memory Care in Los Lunas
• Good Life Senior Living in Portales
• Good Life Senior Living in Ruidoso
• Good Samaritan Society Las Cruces
• Laguna Rainbow Care Center in Casa Blanca
• Lakeview Christian Home in Carlsbad
• Las Palomas Center in Albuquerque
• Miners Colfax Medical Center in Raton
• MorningStar Assisted Living and Memory Care of Albuquerque
• MorningStar Memory Care at North Ridge in Albuquerque
• The Neighborhood in Rio Rancho Assisted Living in Rio Rancho
• Odelia Healthcare (Camino Healthcare) in Albuquerque
• Princeton Place in Albuquerque
• The Rehabilitation Center of Albuquerque
• The Rio at Las Estancias in Albuquerque
• Silver Wings Assisted Living in Albuquerque
• Skies Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Albuquerque
• Sunset Villa Care Center in Roswell
• Vida Encantada Nursing & Rehabilitation in Las Vegas
• The Watermark at Cherry Hills in Albuquerque

Statewide cases

County totals are subject to change upon further investigation and determination of residency of individuals positive for COVID-19.

• Bernalillo County: 63,221
• Catron County: 115
• Chaves County: 9,802
• Cibola County: 2,981
• Colfax County: 846
• Curry County: 5,771
• De Baca County: 201
• Doña Ana County: 26,107
• Eddy County: 8,222
• Grant County: 1,838
• Guadalupe County: 494
• Harding County: 13
• Hidalgo County: 481
• Lea County: 9,926
• Lincoln County: 2,039
• Los Alamos County: 590
• Luna County: 3,512
• McKinley County: 12,848
• Mora County: 189
• Otero County: 4,497
• Quay County: 638
• Rio Arriba County: 4,007
• Roosevelt County: 2,218
• Sandoval County: 13,110
• San Juan County: 16,463
• San Miguel County: 1,583
• Santa Fe County: 11,227
• Sierra County: 818
• Socorro County: 1,387
• Taos County: 1,847
• Torrance County: 961
• Union County: 273
• Valencia County: 7,440

Cases among people being held by federal agencies

• Cibola County Correctional Center: 452
• Otero County Federal Prison Facility: 457
• Otero County Processing Center: 436
• Torrance County Detention Facility: 334

Cases among people being held by the New Mexico Department of Corrections

• Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Valencia County: 30
• Guadalupe County Correctional Facility: 255
• Lea County Correctional Facility: 762
• Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility in Union County: 169
• Northwest New Mexico Correctional Center in Cibola County: 130
• Otero County Prison Facility: 473
• Penitentiary of New Mexico in Santa Fe County: 219
• Roswell Correctional Center: 229
• Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility in Doña Ana County: 231
• Springer Correctional Center in Colfax County: 151
• Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in Cibola County: 75

*Per the health department, hospitalization figures include people who were tested elsewhere but are hospitalized in New Mexico, but don’t include people who were tested here but are hospitalized out of state.