Dr. Alan Williamson discusses new COVID-19 vaccines

New COVID-19 vaccines are expected to be available as soon as this week amid a surge of the disease here in California.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the distribution of the updated Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for the upcoming season.

The companies are now set to begin shipping millions of doses.

Doctors at Eisenhower Health advise people who are at high risk from COVID-19 to schedule shots as soon as they're available.

"We've seen an uptick in the number of hospitalizations, we were running very low, often two to three patients in the hospital. I'd say on average now, closer to eight to ten patients in the hospital. So an uptick in the number, but not overwhelming," Dr. Alan Williamson, Chief Medical Officer at Eisenhower Health.

Williamson added, "Every year we should expect that there's a new version of the vaccine. So this is really the same technology, same vaccine we're used to in essence, except that it's targeting these specific variants that we see circulating over the course of the late spring and into the summer."

For more on COVID-19 vaccines in Riverside County, visit: https://www.ruhealth.org/public-health/coronavirus