Updated COVID-19 vaccines to hit New Mexico pharmacies in the next few days.

New year, new vaccine.

Updated COVID-19 shots, tailored to combat variants of the virus currently heavily circulating, will be hitting pharmacies, medical providers and public health offices last week and early next week — in time to tackle rising cases and as New Mexico prepares for a respiratory illness triple threat.

“Six months and older? Go get the vaccine. And that’s irregardless of how many other vaccines you’ve had,” state health department Medical Director Miranda Durham said. “If you’ve had zero COVID vaccines, or you’ve had a whole bunch of them, you should still get this season’s COVID vaccine.”

While the flu and RSV — the other two respiratory illnesses the health department’s worried about this fall — have not harshly struck New Mexico quite yet, COVID-19 hospitalizations have trended upward over the last eight weeks, according to health department data updated on Tuesday. New Mexico had 74 admissions between Aug. 29 and Sept. 4.

There’s also been an uptick in cases, Durham said, with almost 900 in the first week of September — about 42 cases per 100,000 people.

But Durham said that pales in comparison with the height of the pandemic, and that while hospitals in metro areas are close to capacity, they’re not over it. Still, she hopes to cut down on any additional strain that serious respiratory illnesses preventable by vaccines could cause.

Vaccine uptake is a source of concern for Durham, though. The number of administered vaccines has steadily gone down in recent weeks, with about 780 given in the last seven days.

“What is concerning about that is feeling like, ‘Oh, maybe people lost enthusiasm about the COVID vaccine,’ ” she said. “We really are hoping that people will have renewed enthusiasm for the COVID vaccine and go out and get it and stay protected through the winter.”

Durham acknowledged feelings of unease about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, and that while allergic reactions or the rare side effect of myocarditis are always possible, the health department has robust safety data about this round of vaccines.

“We feel very confident this is a safe and effective vaccine,” she said. “It’s not perfectly effective at stopping you from getting COVID. But it’s really effective at keeping people out of the hospital.”

Anyone interested in getting the vaccine can find their closest provider on an interactive map at vaccinenm.org.

Durham noted that even those without insurance can get the vaccine by taking advantage of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Bridge Access Program, which provides free vaccines and in which major pharmacy companies like Walgreens and CVS participate.