COVID-19 Vaccination (2023)

What You Need to Know

  • Everyone aged 6 years and oldershould get 1 updated Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to be up to date.
  • People aged 65 years and older may get a 2nd dose of updated Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
  • People who are moderately or severely immunocompromised may get additional doses of updated Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
  • Children aged 6 months–5 years may need multiple doses of COVID-19 vaccine to be up to date, including at least 1 dose of updated Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, depending on the number of doses they’ve previously received and their age.
  • COVID-19 vaccine recommendations will be updated as needed.

Recommendation for Everyone Aged 6 Years and Older

Get 1 updated COVID-19 vaccine

Everyone 6 years and older should get 1 updated Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, regardless of whether they’ve received any original COVID-19 vaccines.

To find COVID-19 vaccine locations near you:Searchvaccines.gov, text your ZIP code to 438829, or call 1-800-232-0233.

Recommendations for People Who May Get Additional Updated COVID-19 Vaccines

Some people may get additional doses of COVID-19 vaccines:

  • People aged 65 years and older may get 1 additional dose of COVID-19 vaccine 4 or more months after the 1st updated COVID-19 vaccine.
  • People who are moderately or severely immunocompromised may get 1 additional dose of updated COVID-19 vaccine 2 or more months after the last updated COVID-19 vaccine. Talk to your healthcare provider about additional updated doses.

Recommendations for Children Aged 6 Months—5 Years

AGE GROUP

6 MONTHS–4 YEARS

1st Dose

Pfizer-BioNTech

UPDATED VACCINE

2nd Dose

Pfizer-BioNTech

UPDATED VACCINE

3–8 weeks after 1st dose

3rd Dose

Pfizer-BioNTech

UPDATED VACCINE

At least 8 weeks after 2nd dose

Up to Date: Immediately after getting the last updated dose. Learn more about children who got the original vaccine.

AGE

5 YEARS OLD

1st Dose

Pfizer-BioNTech

UPDATED VACCINE

Up to Date: Immediately after getting 1 updated dose. Learn more about children who got the original vaccine.

Children aged 6 months–4 years who got the original Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine

  • 3 doses of the original Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine should get 1 updated Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
  • 2 doses of the original Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine should get 1 updated Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
  • 1 dose of the original Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine should get 2 updated Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines.
  • 2 doses of the original Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and a 3rd dose of the updated Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are not recommended to get another updated vaccine.

Children aged 5 years who got the original Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine

Children aged 5 years who got:

  • 1 or more doses of the original Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine should get 1 updated Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Read more: COVID-19 vaccination schedule for children

Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine Overview

AGE GROUP

6 MONTHS–5 YEARS

1st Dose

Moderna

UPDATED VACCINE

2nd Dose

Moderna

UPDATED VACCINE

4–8 weeks after 1st dose

Up to Date: Immediately after getting the last updated dose. Learn more about children aged 6 months–4 years and children aged 5 years who got the original vaccine.

Children aged 6 months–4 years who got the original Moderna COVID-19 vaccine

Children aged 6 months—4 years who got:

  • 2 doses of the original Moderna COVID-19 vaccine should get 1 updated Moderna vaccine.
  • 1 dose of the original Moderna COVID-19 vaccine should get 1 updated Moderna vaccine.
  • 2 doses of the original Moderna vaccine and a 3rd dose of the updated Moderna vaccine are not recommended to get another updated vaccine.

Children aged 5 years who got the original Moderna COVID-19 vaccine

Children aged 5 years who got:

  • 2 doses of the original Moderna COVID-19 vaccineshould get 1 updated Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
  • 1 dose of the original Moderna COVID-19 vaccine should get 1 updated Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
  • 2 doses of the original Moderna vaccine and a 3rd dose of an updated vaccine are not recommended to get another updated vaccine.

Read more: COVID-19 vaccination schedule for children

Moderna Vaccine Overview

Recommendation for People Who May Want Another COVID-19 Vaccine Option

People 12 years and older who are unable or choose not to get an updated Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccinecan consider other options to get up to date:

AGE GROUP

12 YEARS AND OLDER

1st Dose

Novavax

PRIMARY SERIES

2nd Dose

Novavax

PRIMARY SERIES

3–8 weeks after 1st dose
More details: Getting your 2nd dose

3rd Dose

Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna

UPDATED VACCINE

At least 2 months after 2nd primary series dose

A Novavax booster is available in limited situations
More details: Novavax booster

Up to Date: Immediately after getting the Novavax doses approved for your age group.

Novavax 2nd dose

People aged 12–64 years:

  • People in this age group, especiallymales aged 12 through 39 years, may consider getting the 2nd dose of Novavax 8 weeks after the 1st dose.
  • A longer time between the 1st and 2nd doses may increase how much protection the vaccines offer, and further minimize the rare risk of myocarditis and pericarditis.

People aged 65 years and older or people more likely to get very sickfrom COVID-19 should get the 2nd dose of Novavax COVID-19 vaccine 3 weeks after the 1st dose.

Novavax booster

You may get a Novavax boosterifyou are unable or unwilling to receive a Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna updated COVID-19 boosterandyou meet the following requirements:

  • You are 18 years of age or older
  • You completed a COVID-19 vaccine primary series at least 6 months ago
  • You have not gotten any other COVID-19 booster dose

Novavax is not authorized as a booster dose at this time for teens aged 12–17 years.

Novavax Vaccine Overview

When Are You Up to Date?

Everyone aged 6 years and older

You are up to date when you get 1 updated Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

Children aged 6 months—5 years who got the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine

You are up to date if you are:

  • Aged 6 Months—4 years and you get 3 COVID-19 vaccine doses, including at least 1 updated COVID-19 dose.
  • Aged 5 years and you get at least 1 updated COVID-19 vaccine dose.

Children aged 6 months—5 yearswho got the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine

You are up to date when you get 2 Moderna COVID-19 vaccine doses, including at least 1 updated COVID-19 vaccine dose.

People who are unable or choose not to get a recommended mRNA vaccine

You are up to date when you get the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine doses approved for your age group.

People who got the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine

You are up to date when you get 1 updated COVID-19 vaccine.

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 best protected best from COVID-19 when you stay up to date with the recommended vaccinations.

COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the United States:

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

Updated (Bivalent) and Original (Monovalent) COVID-19 Vaccines

Updated vaccines, sometimes called “bivalent” vaccines

The updated vaccines are called “updated” because they protect againstboththe original virus that causes COVID-19andthe Omicron variant BA.4 and BA.5. Two COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, have developed updated COVID-19 vaccines.

  • 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–5 years who completed the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine primary series and for children aged 6 months–4 years who got 2 doses of the original Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine
  • March 17, 2023, for children aged 6 months–4 years who completed their 3-dose primary series with the original Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine

Original vaccines, sometimes called “monovalent” vaccines

Previous COVID-19 vaccines are called “original” because they were designed to protect against the original virus that causes COVID-19.

As of April 18, 2023,theoriginalPfizer-BioNTech and ModernaCOVID-19 vaccines are no longer authorized for use by the FDA in the United States. UpdatedPfizer-BioNTech and ModernaCOVID-19 vaccines are being used for all age groups.

As of May 6, 2023, J&J/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine has expiredand is no longer available for use in the United States.

New vaccines expected in fall 2023

On June 15, 2023, an FDA advisory committee met to talk about COVID-19 vaccines and additional strains of the COVID-19 virus. They recommended that COVID-19 vaccines should be updated to provide protection against the Omicron variant XBB.1.5 for use by the fall of 2023.

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 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,
  • or risk of disease in a loved one or close contact,
  • local COVID-19 hospital admission level,
  • and the most common COVID-19 variantcurrently causing illness.
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