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COVID Strike Force webinar to educate cruise industry on bivalent vaccine

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Dr. Reynolds, standing at center, with vaccinated cruise ship crew
COVID Strike Force Dr. Dwight Reynolds who, with his medical team, vaccinated more than 68,000 cruise ship crew during the height of the pandemic, now stresses the importance of getting the updated bivalent booster.

Reynolds was on the frontline working with Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean Group and Azamara.

Education mission

The doctor's mission is to educate the underserved communities of South Florida and the cruise industry on the importance of getting the new, updated COVID-19 bivalent booster before the end of the year.

These new booster vaccines by Moderna and Pfizer specifically focus on the Omicron variants, which have more than 200 variants. The new boosters cover all of the previous COVID-19 variants, including the Delta strains, which were the deadliest. According to Reynolds, they have an 85% to 90% efficacy in protecting against severe disease, hospitalization and death.

Get boosted now

The doctor said the time to get boosted is as soon as possible before the flu season peak in December and January. He added it is anticipated pharmaceutical companies could begin charging as much as $187 per dose in 2023 for the bivalent booster once the US federal government subsidies expire.

Importance for the cruise industry

'Health and safety is the cruise industry’s number one priority, and cruise lines are proactive in ensuring their crew members are up to date on COVID vaccinations,' Reynolds said. 'As cruise lines regain their strength after two financially crippling years, a top priority should be to get crew members vaccinated with the new updated COVID bivalent booster vaccine now.

Cost expected in 2023

'In early 2023 the additional costs to vaccinate each crew member will be expected to exceed $100 per crew member,' he continued. 'The cruise line will likely absorb the cost or pass it on to the guests.'

Nov. 16 cruise industry webinar

Reynolds will provide a free, industry-exclusive webinar at 1 p.m. EST Nov. 16 to educate cruise professionsals and travel advisors on the bivalent boosters. Registration is here.

COVID Strike Force will also offer crew-only bivalent booster vaccination clinics to cruise lines during November and December, as well as January through March. Interested lines may contact [email protected] or call 954-50-COVID.

Reynolds is the founder/president/CEO of Centers for Heath Promotion, LLC, whose services include COVID Strike Force, which provides COVID vaccines for underserved African Americans, Hispanics and all communities with healthcare disparities. COVID Strike Force also provides COVID-19 vaccines to several cruise lines with ships in South Florida (PortMiami and Port Everglades) and in many other states.

The COVID Vaccine Strike Force has vaccinated or overseen the vaccinations of more than 68,000 crew members over the past 16 months. This video recaps the effort: