TEMPLE, Texas — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is meeting this week to discuss the timeline for COVID-19 booster shots.
A Temple woman who is immunocompromised would be in the first group to get the booster.
Allison Dickson got her COVID-19 vaccine in June after more than a year of avoiding being out in public.
"It's been a very long 18 months," Dickson said. "I'm basically on lockdown because if I do catch COVID it could very well be fatal."
Dickson has a rare form of muscular dystrophy in her lungs making her more vulnerable to the coronavirus.
Her doctors sent her a stern warning.
"Avoid the E.R. at all costs," Dickson explains. "Because again that's a risk of exposure which is very dangerous."
But if you are fully vaccinated, why do you even need a booster shot?
American Pharmacy Association Texas representative Ruston Taylor told 25 News that when you get vaccinated, your immunity decreases over time.
"The hope with these boosters is that immunity would be boosted so that with infections like COVID, the delta variant, we would have adequate immunity in order to avoid those infections," Taylor said.
With the growing numbers of patients in the hospital in Central Texas and limited ICU beds available, medical experts are desperate for people to get the booster as soon as its available.
"They decrease the chance that you'll get the illness and take it basically to zero about you being hospitalized or dying from the infection," Taylor said. "So very important for everyone to remember."
For social butterflies like Dickson, the booster shot could be key to getting back to normal.
"As Americans, we are fighters and we will come out stronger on the other end of this," said Dickson.
For now, she is waiting for her doctor to let her know if it is safe for her to get the booster shot.
She's hoping the answer is yes.