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.

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