Back in June, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)<\/a> recommended everyone ages 6 months and older get an updated vaccine as soon as they became available \u201clater this year.\u201d Last year\u2019s 2023\u201324 vaccines<\/a> launched in mid-September, and the public had been expecting the 2024\u201325 version around the same time this year. Citing skyrocketing disease spread<\/a>, however, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week announced it had okayed the vaccines early<\/a>.<\/p>\n Manufacturers of the two approved COVID vaccines, Pfizer<\/a> and Moderna<\/a>, said Aug. 22 that their respective immunizations would be widely available in the days immediately following the FDA\u2019s backing.<\/p>\n In considering vaccination for you and your loved ones, keep in mind the protection you\u2019ll be providing your community, says Dr. Robert Hopkins Jr.<\/a>, medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cRemember that when you get vaccinated, not only do you give yourself a vaccine that\u2019s going to reduce your risk\u2014short-term for infection, longer-term for severe infection\u2014you\u2019re contributing to a community,\u201d Hopkins tells Fortune<\/em>. \u201cThe more people who are vaccinated, the less likely we\u2019re going to get sustained circulation of that virus in the community<\/a>. That means you\u2019re less likely to get continued evolution of variants<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt also means fewer people, hopefully, ending up in the hospital or potentially passing away from these viruses. So I think about vaccination for personal benefit, for family benefit, and also for community benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n The CDC recommends a 2024\u201325 vaccine for everyone 6 months and older\u2014regardless of whether you\u2019ve had COVID, received prior versions of the vaccine, or have never gotten a vaccine. This includes people who are pregnant or breastfeeding. However, dosage guidelines<\/a> differ between adults and children:<\/p>\n Adults 65 and older, who may be at higher risk of severe COVID infection, were previously advised<\/a> to get a second dose of the 2023\u201324 vaccine. For now, the CDC doesn\u2019t recommend a second dose of the 2024\u201325 vaccine for older adults.<\/p>\n People with moderately to severely compromised immune systems<\/a>, though, may soon resume eligibility for additional doses. While the CDC hasn\u2019t yet updated its immunization guidelines<\/a> for this population, they previously were eligible for additional doses at least two months apart. Ask your doctor if you qualify for extra doses.<\/p>\n Yes, but you may delay vaccination for up to three months after infection, the CDC says. While you\u2019re less likely to become reinfected so soon after having COVID, research has shown natural immunity to level off after several months<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, it\u2019s okay to get vaccinated sooner than later if you or a loved one have a medical condition that puts you or them at high risk of severe infection. You may also consider getting vaccinated earlier if the virus is rapidly circulating in your area<\/a>.<\/p>\n For people 5 and older, the CDC advises postponing your 2024\u201325 shot until at least eight weeks after your most recent dose of a previous vaccine, including if you were immunized outside the U.S.<\/a> Children 6 months to 4 years should wait three to eight weeks, depending on their vaccination history; refer to this CDC dosing chart<\/a> and consult your child\u2019s pediatrician.<\/p>\n If you previously received doses of COVID vaccines that aren\u2019t FDA-approved, FDA-authorized, or prequalified<\/a> or listed for emergency use<\/a> by the World Health Organization, the CDC considers you unvaccinated.<\/p>\n Both use messenger RNA (mRNA) technology<\/a>, and the CDC doesn\u2019t recommend one vaccine over the other. Still, subtleties exist<\/a> between them.<\/p>\n Comirnaty<\/a> is the brand name of Pfizer\u2019s FDA-approved COVID vaccine for people 12 and older. Each dose<\/a> contains 30 \u03bcg of mRNA. Pfizer\u2019s unnamed version of the vaccine for children 6 months to 11 years has been authorized for emergency use. Single pediatric doses<\/a> for children 5 to 11 contain 10 \u03bcg of mRNA, while doses given in a series for children 6 months to 4 years contain 3 \u03bcg of mRNA.<\/p>\n Spikevax<\/a> is the brand name of Moderna\u2019s FDA-approved COVID vaccine for people 12 and older. Each dose<\/a> contains 50 \u03bcg of mRNA. Moderna\u2019s unnamed version of the vaccine for children 6 months to 11 years has been authorized for emergency use. Single pediatric doses<\/a> contain 25 \u03bcg of mRNA.<\/p>\n All new Pfizer and Moderna vaccines target the Omicron variant KP.2 strain of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID.<\/p>\n Courtesy of Moderna<\/p>\n<\/div>\n While the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are mRNA-based, the Novavax vaccine is protein-based. In short, manufacturing the latter is a more complex process, explains Dr. Michael Ben-Aderet<\/a>, associate medical director of hospital epidemiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center<\/a> in Los Angeles. Despite being newer, the mRNA technology is also relatively swift.<\/p>\n \u201cIt uses mRNA, which is a blueprint for a protein, to essentially use your cells to produce the protein that will develop your immunity,\u201d Ben-Aderet tells Fortune<\/em>. \u201cA protein vaccine is the more traditional way, where you actually give people the protein that you want them to develop immunity to.\u201d<\/p>\n Taking longer to make means protein-based vaccines also take longer to get the FDA\u2019s blessing, he says. Novavax announced last week that the agency was reviewing data in consideration of emergency use authorization for its upcoming vaccine<\/a> for people 12 and older. The Novavax formula targets JN.1<\/a>, the parental lineage of KP.2.<\/p>\n Yes, the CDC recommends staying up to date with your immunizations<\/a>. Vaccine-induced immunity decreases over time, so you\u2019re likely not as protected against the coronavirus as you were a year ago. In addition, last year\u2019s vaccine was engineered to combat the most prevalent Omicron subvariants circulating at the time, not the ones now surging and projected to spread through the winter.<\/p>\n In the future, we may even need two or more booster doses per year, says Dr. Priya Sampathkumar<\/a>, an infectious disease specialist at the Mayo Clinic<\/a>. But for now, she anticipates the new vaccines will curb the current wave.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really important that we all get vaccinated prior to cooler weather,\u201d she tells Fortune<\/em>. \u201cWe\u2019ll be moving indoors, [where] there\u2019s a higher risk of transmission.\u201d<\/p>\n Hopkins acknowledges that people may have become apathetic about COVID vaccination more than four years after the virus\u2019s arrival. Yet updated immunization is critical to managing disease spread and severity.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had pretty reasonable uptake of the initial round of vaccine. When the bivalent vaccine came out, we saw a drop-off in uptake of that, and a drop-off again in the 2023\u201324 vaccine,\u201d Hopkins says. \u201cWhere that\u2019s left us is that we\u2019ve continued to see thousands of hospitalizations every year due to COVID-19. We\u2019ve continued to see thousands of deaths every year due to COVID-19.<\/p>\n \u201cThe absolute numbers have come down from the first year of the pandemic, but it\u2019s still having a major impact on our society.\u201d<\/p>\n Steven Decroos\/Pfizer via AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n No. Any post-immunization malaise you may feel is your immune system kicking into gear, Sampathkumar explains.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s technically impossible for the vaccines to [give you COVID],\u201d she says. \u201cWhat you\u2019re feeling is evidence that the body is responding appropriately\u2026you should welcome that.\u201d<\/p>\n Because younger people have more robust immune systems, they may experience a stronger reaction, she says. In addition, the severity of your reaction should decrease over time. For example, you may not have much of a reaction to your annual flu shot<\/a> if you\u2019ve been getting it your whole life, but you may have felt poorly after your first COVID shot because it was foreign to your body.<\/p>\n Ben-Aderet adds that COVID vaccines don\u2019t contain virus particles, let alone live virus: \u201cAll they have in them is a small fragment of mRNA, so there is just no way that that could lead to an infection.\u201d<\/p>\n Yes, per the CDC. Sampathkumar adds, \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely fine getting multiple vaccines at the same visit<\/a>. It does not decrease your response to any of the vaccines you get.\u201d<\/p>\n Yes. No vaccine is 100% effective\u2014especially given SARS-CoV-2\u2019s penchant for mutation\u2014and getting immunized doesn\u2019t guarantee you won\u2019t get COVID. Rather, the vaccine\u2019s job is to keep you as healthy as possible if you do become infected, helping prevent severe disease, hospitalization, and death.<\/p>\n The vaccine is free<\/a> to most U.S. adults through their private health insurance<\/a>, Medicare<\/a>, and Medicaid<\/a> plans, according to the CDC. Children 18 or younger may be eligible for free immunization through the CDC\u2019s Vaccines for Children Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n The 25 million to 30 million adults nationwide without insurance or whose insurance doesn\u2019t cover all vaccine costs had been offered free COVID immunization through the federal Bridge Access Program<\/a>, but the initiative was slated to end on an unspecified date this month. CDC Director Mandy Cohen said in a briefing last week<\/a>, however, that the agency had earmarked an additional $62 million that would allow state and local immunization programs to purchase vaccines for uninsured and underinsured patients.<\/p>\n \u201cI would encourage folks to be reaching out to their local public health departments, their state public health departments,\u201d Cohen said. \u201cTheir federally qualified health centers as well, those are opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n Visit Vaccines.gov<\/a> to find a location near you. You can also call 800-232-0233 or text your ZIP code to 438829<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you received your initial COVID vaccine doses when they first became widely available in 2021, you may have a CDC-issued paper vaccination card<\/a>. They were once such a hot commodity that retailers offered deals<\/a> to customers who brandished them and criminals were caught selling fake ones<\/a>.<\/p>\n The CDC no longer issues these cards, so no need to worry about losing yours or having to bring it to your next vaccination. You may request a paper or digital copy of your vaccine history from your state\u2019s Immunization Information System<\/a> if you wish.<\/p>\nWho can get a new COVID vaccine?<\/h2>\n
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I recently had COVID. Can I get the new vaccine?<\/h2>\n
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I just got the 2023\u201324 COVID vaccine. When can I get the new one?<\/h2>\n
Are the Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccines the same?<\/h2>\n
![\"Spikevax](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Moderna-Covid-Vaccines1646_BG-e1724703775355.jpg?w=1440&q=75\"\/)
Why isn\u2019t the new Novavax vaccine available yet?<\/h2>\n
I got the shot last year. Do I need the new COVID vaccine?<\/h2>\n
![\"Comirnaty](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Pfizer-Comirnaty-2024-25-min-e1724877680415.jpg?w=1440&q=75\"\/)
Can you get COVID from the vaccine?<\/h2>\n
Can I get the COVID and flu shots at the same time?<\/h2>\n
Can I still get COVID if I\u2019m vaccinated?<\/h2>\n
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Does insurance cover the new COVID vaccine?<\/h2>\n
Where can I get the new COVID vaccine?<\/h2>\n
Do I still need a COVID vaccination card?<\/h2>\n