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Since the DMV is closed, where can we get our driver’s licenses renewed?

The Offices of Motor Vehicles in Lake Charles and Sulphur remain closed more than a year after Hurricane Laura seriously damaged their buildings.

No definite timeline has been given on when the offices will reopen.

In the meantime, there is an Express Office of Motor Vehicles at the corner of Ryan and West Prien Lake roads.

The state is also encouraging residents to use the website expresslane.org for driver’s license and vehicle registration renewals or identification card and Real ID needs.

The Kinder, Jennings and DeQuincy OMVs are also open, though DeQuincy is by appointment only.

Vaccine boosters

Are those who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine now required to get a booster shot?

This week the Food and Drug Administration authorized extra doses of all three vaccines available in the U.S., and a day later, an advisory panel for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention followed suit.

The FDA and CDC also announced that those eligible for an additional dose could soon receive a shot from a different brand than the original one — known as “mix and match.” For example, a person who originally received a shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine could get a booster of either Pfizer-BioNTech or the Moderna vaccine.

Once CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky gives the green light, public health departments and health care facilities will be able to officially start rolling out the extra doses.

All Johnson & Johnson recipients will be eligible for a second shot at least two months after their first.

Britain has been authorizing mixing and matching of vaccines in certain circumstances since January.

Preliminary data from a federally funded study by the National Institutes of Health found that people who received Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine saw their antibody levels rise 76-fold within 15 days of receiving a booster shot from Moderna and 35-fold after getting a Pfizer booster, compared to a four-fold jump after an additional dose of Johnson & Johnson.

Informer is written by Crystal Stevenson, American Press executive editor. To ask a question, call 494-4098 and leave voice mail, or email informer@americanpress.com.