 With COVID-19 and influenza in the air this fall season, Pike County Health Department will begin their mask up, lather up, sleeve up vaccination campaign starting this Friday. Thursday we spoke with Health Director Tammy Riley about vaccines and the importance of germ prevention. You can this year take the flu vaccine and the COVID-19 vaccine at the same time. So that is updated information per the CDC and the Department of Public Health. So we've had some time over a year now to look at studies and information, and they have determined that it is safe to have both your COVID-19 vaccine and your influenza vaccine at the same time. Here at Pikeville Medical Center's Heart and Vascular Institute, we have assembled a comprehensive team of cardiac specialists bringing expertise from all regions of the nation and the world. We have coupled that with cutting-edge technology, providing them the best equipment and operating rooms available. The result is comprehensive cardiac care for the people of our region that is second to none. The Heart and Vascular Institute at Pikeville Medical Center. As part of the campaign, the Pike County Health Department recommends wearing masks, when in public, washing our hands frequently with soap and water, and getting vaccinated. Riley also reminds us the differences between boosters and third doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. To put it as simply as possible, the third dose is a change in dosing schedule. So it's a change in how many doses an individual would take if they're immunocompromised. So if you meet the CDC's definition of immunocompromised, then you would quite possibly need to take a third injection. So if you were coming to the Health Department or any vaccine provider for the first time and seeking COVID-19 vaccination, and you were immunocompromised, the provider would in all likelihood recommend three injections for you. The initial and then three to four weeks later, the second, and then four weeks later, 28 days later, a third injection. When the CDC and the FDA came out with this third dose recommendation, they allowed individuals to come and play catch up and get their third dose. Now the booster dose is FDA recommended, CDC recommended, for Pfizer recipients only. So if you receive the Pfizer vaccine, and it's been six months or longer since your full dosing series, and whether that would be two or three now, you would wait six months or longer and receive your booster dose. And that would be for individuals that fit some very specific criteria, 65 years of age and older, individuals with certain underlying medical conditions or in certain occupational environmental hazard areas. For the influenza or COVID-19 vaccine, you can visit the Pike County Health Department or call them at 606-509-5500. Vaccine hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. For Mountain Top News, I'm Joel Chorjol.