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COVID-19

Stay Up To Date With COVID-19 Vaccines, Including Boosters

Provided by: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

CDC recommends everyone stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines for their age group:

  • Getting a COVID-19 vaccine after you have recovered from COVID-19 infection provides added protection against COVID-19.
  • People who are moderately or severely immunocompromised have different recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines.
  • COVID-19 vaccine and booster recommendations may be updated as CDC continues to monitor the latest COVID-19 data.

About COVID-19 Vaccines

COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States are effective at protecting people from getting seriously ill, being hospitalized, and dying. As with other vaccine-preventable diseases, you are protected best from COVID-19 when you stay up to date with the recommended vaccinations, including recommended boosters.

Four COVID-19 vaccines are approved or authorized in the United States:

  • Pfizer-BioNTech
  • Moderna
  • Novavax
  • Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen (J&J/Janssen) 

(CDC recommends that the J&J/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine only be considered in certain situations due to safety concerns.)

The updated boosters are called “updated” because they protect against both the original virus that causes COVID-19 and the Omicron variant BA.4 and BA.5. Two COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers, Pfizer and Moderna, have developed updated COVID-19 boosters.

Updated COVID-19 boosters became available on:

  • September 2, 2022, for people aged 12 years and older
  • October 12, 2022, for people aged 5–11 years
  • December 9, 2022, for children aged 6 months–4 years who completed the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine primary series

Previous boosters are called “original” because they were designed to protect against the original virus that causes COVID-19. They also provide some protection against Omicron, but not as much as the updated boosters.

 

When Are You Up to Date?

You are up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines when you have completed a COVID-19 vaccine primary series and got the most recent booster dose recommended for you by CDC.

  • If you have completed your primary series—but are not yet eligible for a booster—you are also considered up to date.
  • If you become ill with COVID-19 after you received all COVID-19 vaccine doses recommended for you, you are also considered up to date. You do not need to be revaccinated or receive an additional booster.

COVID-19 vaccine recommendations are based on three things:

  • Your age
  • The vaccine you first received, and
  • The length of time since your last dose

Getting Vaccines If You Had or Currently Have COVID-19

If you recently had COVID-19, you still need to stay up to date with your vaccines, but you may consider delaying your next vaccine dose (whether a primary dose or booster) by 3 months from:

  • When your symptoms started.
  • Or if you had no symptoms when you first received a positive test.

Reinfection is less likely in the weeks to months after infection. However, certain factors could be reasons to get a vaccine sooner rather than later, such as:

  • Personal risk of severe disease, risk of disease in a loved one, or close contact
  • Local COVID-19 Community Level
  • & the most common COVID-19 variant currently causing illness.

To read the full article about COVID-19 vaccines, click here.