Butler Memorial Hospital is increasing the capacity at its COVID-19 vaccine clinic to enable staff to administer 500 doses a day to provide booster shots as well as third shots for people with compromised immune systems.

In a joint statement Wednesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Department of Health said they plan to offer boosters beginning Sept. 20 if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration determines a third dose is safe and effective, and the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices issues a booster dose recommendation based on a thorough review.

The hospital expanded the hours of its clinic at the Crossroads Campus on Oneida Valley Road to provide third doses to people whose immune systems have been compromised because of a medical condition or medication, and those expanded hours will remain in effect in anticipation of providing boosters to people who have received already received two doses.

The new hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays.

A couple months ago, the clinic was open only two days a week as demand for the vaccine declined, said Karen Allen, BMH chief nursing officer.

The hospital has enough vaccine in stock for the next few weeks, but more has been ordered.

“We can handle plenty of people coming through over the next several weeks, and we have more coming after that,” Allen said.

The Pfizer vaccine will be used for the boosters.

“It's recommended if you had Pfizer (for the first two shots), get Pfizer; but Pfizer is permitted for (a) booster if you had Moderna or Pfizer,” she said.

The hospital is struggling, she said, to convince people to get vaccinated.

“We have done everything we know to encourage people to get vaccinated. There is some hesitancy out there, but it's not based on science. If you read the science and you believe in science, you would be vaccinated,” Allen said.

In a joint statement, the CDC and Health Department said all of the vaccines, including the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, are effective in reducing risk of severe disease, hospitalization and death, even against the widely circulating delta variant, but the protection they provide decreases over time, and a booster could be needed to provide long-lasting protection.

“Based on our latest assessment, the current protection against severe disease, hospitalization and death could diminish in the months ahead, especially among those who are at higher risk or were vaccinated during the earlier phases of the vaccination rollout. For that reason, we conclude that a booster shot will be needed to maximize vaccine-induced protection and prolong its durability,” the federal agencies said in the statement.

The boosters would be administered eight months after the second dose.

“We also anticipate booster shots will likely be needed for people who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Administration of the J&J vaccine did not begin in the U.S. until March 2021, and we expect more data on J&J in the next few weeks,” according to the statement.

Also on Wednesday, President Joe Biden is reportedly planning to require nursing homes to mandate vaccinations for their staff as a condition for participating in Medicare and Medicaid.