Have you been wondering, “When will the new 2024 COVID vaccine be available?” The short answer is: It’s here. But even though the “fall vaccine” has been approved much earlier this year than the 2023 COVID vaccine was, just like last year it may take a while for these shots to become widely available to the public. On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) signed off on these updated COVID vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer (also known as Comirnaty), which should start to roll out across the United States in the coming weeks — as the 2024 summer wave of infections continues around the country.
Earlier this year, the CDC recommended that the updated shots be available to everyone age 6 months and older through pharmacies like CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid and Safeway, as well as health care providers, county public health departments and community clinics. These COVID vaccines usually become available at pharmacies first, because pharmacies take their cue from the federal government and not the state — but with vaccines needing to be shipped, it might still be a while before vaccinations are available. For example, CVS is currently offering appointments for the new COVID vaccine starting no earlier than late August, and Walgreens is similarly offering appointments that begin September 6.
Remember: Unlike previous rounds of the vaccine, the FDA and the CDC stopped calling these updated shots “boosters” in 2023 — so you won’t see that language online around appointments. Instead, they refer to these annual fall vaccines as a “new” or “updated” vaccines that have been reformulated to better target a more recent strain of the coronavirus: This time, the omicron variant known as KP.2 that was common earlier this year.
If you’re wondering why the new COVID vaccine seems to take so long to become widely available now, why you can no longer walk into any vaccination location to get an updated shot and why health insurance matters now, it’s because of the major change that came into effect last year: The federal government has stopped footing the bill for COVID vaccines. These shots have now transitioned into the traditional health care market, like many other kinds of vaccines . So for most people with health insurance, insurers will now cover the cost of getting the new COVID vaccine direct, much like your plan might cover your flu shot.
This is why you’ll hear many county public health officials urging people to first seek out the new vaccine via their health care provider (and also why those county-run vaccination sites that were so common at the height of the pandemic now don’t exist, at least on the same scale.) But COVID vaccines now being purchased and distributed through the health care market now also means it’s far less simple for people without health insurance to find a free shot. Jump to “ How do I find a COVID vaccine if I’m uninsured?” Not yet, although an updated version of the Novavax vaccine looks to be on the way a little later .
Unlike Pfizer and Moderna’s new COVID shots, the Novavax vaccine is a non-mRNA, protein-based vaccine. One reason some people choose the Novavax vaccine is based on aftereffects from getting the shot — as Science has reported, Novavax “appeared less likely than mRNA shots to cause side effects like headache and fatigue” in clinical trials. Much like the flu shot, COVID vaccines have now become annual shots offered in the fall — and their “recipe” gets updated each year in the hope of maximum efficacy against current strains.
This new 2024–2025 COVID vaccine is an updated shot that supersedes and replaces the 2023–2024 shot, which you should now consider outdated. The recipe for this new vaccine will address a newer target: The KP.2 subvariant of omicron.
COVID strains are a moving target, and as you can see from the CDC’s COVID Variant Tracker , KP.2 is no longer the dominant subvariant in the U.S.
— that’s currently KP.3.1.
1. But this family of omicron subvariants is closely enough related that the vaccines promise cross-protection. A Pfizer spokesman said the company submitted data to the FDA showing its updated vaccine “generates a substantially improved response” against multiple virus subtypes compared to last fall’s vaccine.
“The vaccine is not intended to be perfect. It’s not going to absolutely prevent COVID-19,” said Dr. Peter Marks , director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research in a statement announcing the approval decision.
““But if we can prevent people from getting serious cases that end them up in emergency rooms, hospitals or worse — dead — that’s what we’re trying to do with these vaccines.” The new vaccines should cut the risk of getting COVID by 60% to 70% and reduce the risk of getting seriously ill by 80% to 90%, Marks says. As of August 22, anyone age 6 months and up who got their last COVID vaccine shot at least two months ago — whether that was their primary vaccination series or their last booster shot — can get an updated COVID vaccine from Pfizer or Moderna, as soon as vaccination appointments become available.
As in 2023, appointments may not become immediately widespread, depending on your location. Jump straight to where you can find a new COVID vaccine near you. “Vaccination continues to be the cornerstone of COVID-19 prevention,” said the FDA’s Marks.
“Given waning immunity of the population from previous exposure to the virus and from prior vaccination, we strongly encourage those who are eligible to consider receiving an updated COVID-19 vaccine to provide better protection against currently circulating variants.” There is no specific guidance for certain age groups, but, as with other vaccines, children under 12 will be offered a pediatric (smaller) dose of this vaccine. The FDA’s Marks said that for his part, “when this gets into pharmacies I will probably be on line as soon as it gets rolled out.
” “Right now we’re in a wave, so you’d like to get protection against what’s going on right now,” he said. “So I would probably get vaccinated in as timely a manner as possible. Because right now the match is reasonably close.
You’re probably going to get the most benefit you’re going to get from this vaccine against what’s currently circulating.” Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at UCSF, said that older folks (age 65 and over) or people who are immunocompromised who have neither had a COVID vaccine in the last year nor had a COVID infection should seek out their new vaccine as soon as they can.
These were the “folks I saw in the hospital very ill with COVID in the past few months,” said Chin-Hong. Additionally, for Chin-Hong, the best vaccine is the one you actually get, so “at the end of the day, convenience trumps everything,” he said. “If you are motivated to get the updated COVID shot when it comes out sooner rather than later, just do it.
” “Getting it in your arm when you are motivated trumps being strategic about the whole thing,” said Chin-Hong. Delaying getting the updated vaccine may be right for ..
. Marks said also said that even though he personally will be getting his vaccine straightaway, others might consider waiting until September or October if they’re particularly focused on having maximal protection through the anticipated winter COVID wave, as well as over the holidays. “Getting vaccinated sometime in the September to early October time frame seems like a pretty reasonable thing to do to help bring you protection through the December/January time frame,” Marks said.
For Chin-Hong, the “sweet spot” for getting the new COVID vaccine, if you’re not in that higher-risk group above, “is still some time in October so that antibodies peak in the winter when things are expected to be worse than the summer.” “This is going to apply to most people,” he said. And while “the vaccine’s superpower is protection against serious disease, hospitalization and death,” the updated shot “does have the bonus of increasing the force field against getting infected as well,” said Chin-Hong.
“Because there are so many events after October (Thanksgiving, holiday get togethers, Christmas, New Years), you may also want your antibodies to peak then for that bonus of lowering infection risk.” Another reason you’d want to wait to seek the new vaccine: if you got your last COVID shot less than two months ago, or you’ve had a COVID infection less than three months ago. (PDF) (If your case was asymptomatic, use the date of your positive test instead of the onset of your symptoms.
) “If you have received a vaccine over the summer or got infected over the summer, there is no need to rush out and get the new vaccine as you will be well protected,” said Chin-Hong. “Wait until October and get both flu and COVID shots at the same time.” The CDC’s Bridge Access Program , which was launched in September 2023 to provide free COVID vaccinations to uninsured people, was forecast to last until December — but is instead ending this month .
And while a CDC spokesperson said that the agency will be making “$62 million of unused vaccine contract money” available to states to help vaccinate people without health insurance, right now it’s still unclear how that will work practically. Waiting for your fall COVID shot, said Chin-Hong, will “give it more time for that system to be put into place so you won’t be charged if you don’t have insurance.” It’s totally fine, and safe, to get your flu shot at the same time as your new COVID vaccine, and when appointments roll out more widely you’ll often find that COVID vaccine appointments will prompt you to “add on” a flu shot at the same session — especially at pharmacies.
Although, if you’re trying to schedule your kid’s vaccinations, the CDC advised in 2023 that you first talk to your pediatrician about the best schedule for the COVID and flu vaccines (and now the RSV — respiratory syncytial virus — preventive treatment too). That said, the recommendations medical professionals make about when to get a flu shot are based on the fact that, like with your COVID vaccine, it takes about two weeks after you get vaccinated for antibodies to develop and provide protection against the virus. The CDC says that September and October “are generally good times” to get your flu shot.
In 2023, UCSF’s Chin-Hong told KQED that his “optimal sweet point” for getting this shot is “sometime before Halloween” — but notes that this is based on traditional predictions of flu season starting in November and peaking around January or February. If flu cases start to rise earlier, you should seek out your flu shot sooner, he said. And ultimately, in the spirit of any vaccine being better than no vaccine, “do what is most convenient,” he advised.
Don’t assume you’ll be proactively contacted about getting the new COVID vaccine. Remember that a certain location may only be offering a certain brand of the new vaccine, whether that’s Moderna or Pfizer (or soon, Novavax). So be sure that the location you’re walking into or making an appointment for offers the type of updated vaccine you need or want.
Also make sure the appointment you schedule for your new vaccine is at least two months after your last COVID vaccine shot, or three months after your last COVID infection. (When you’re making an appointment for a new vaccine, you’ll likely be asked for the date of your last COVID vaccine dose or booster dose for this reason, to ensure you’re not getting your shot too soon.) If you don’t have health insurance, jump to what we know about COVID vaccination for uninsured folks.
For future reference, pharmacies are usually the first place new vaccine shots become available when announced because pharmacies take their cue from the federal government, not the state. For example, CVS’s COVID vaccination homepage says that the pharmacy chain is now “waiting on the arrival of the new 2024–2025 COVID-19 vaccines,” and that “you can schedule an appointment online now for a date in the near future.” Walgreens is also offering appointments for the new vaccine starting September 6 .
Remember that pharmacies can’t vaccinate kids under 3, except for CVS MinuteClinics, who are permitted to vaccinate kids as young as 18 months old. If you have health insurance, you should be able to give your insurer’s details at a pharmacy vaccination appointment to have the cost of your shot billed to them. One big exception to this: If you get your health care through a health system like Kaiser Permanente, you almost certainly won’t be able to get your new COVID vaccine for free (i.
e., covered by your insurance) at a pharmacy like CVS or Walgreens, the way you can’t get your flu shot covered by Kaiser at a pharmacy either. Ultimately, if you are a member of a health system like Kaiser and are unsure about what your health insurance covers, reach out to your provider to check if you will need to obtain your new COVID vaccine through them, in order to have it covered.
If you have health insurance, check with your health care provider to see whether they can offer you an updated COVID vaccine. The San Francisco Department of Public Health stresses that “Health care providers are the first place to go for COVID-19 and flu health care.” That said, you could still be looking at a wait for supplies to reach your health care provider, even after the new shots were first authorized.
If you don’t have health insurance but get medical care through a city- or county-run provider, you should check with that location to see whether they can offer you the new COVID vaccine. In addition to trying to talk with your health care provider directly, check the website of your provider to see whether it’s offering the ability to make appointments, and sign up for their vaccine notifications if that’s an option. Visit the federal government’s vaccines.
gov website to see when appointments for the new updated COVID vaccine in or near your zip code become available. A message on the site states that the CDC is updating this tool, “including replacing the vaccine locator with a pharmacy lookup tool to help people find a pharmacy near them, and this “lookup tool will be added once 2024–2025 flu and COVID-19 vaccines become widely available.” Throughout the pandemic, My Turn has been the state’s site for all Californians to schedule vaccination appointments or find walk-in locations, regardless of health insurance status.
Because the new COVID vaccines are now being distributed through the traditional health care market, My Turn’s services have now been geared primarily toward uninsured people. If you visit the My Turn page , select “Make an Appointment.” My Turn will ask for your information, and the ZIP code or location you’d like to use to search for vaccine appointments.
You can give your home location, or input other locations to see which sites might be available farther away. If you can’t travel to a clinic for your new COVID vaccine because of health or transportation issues, you can note this when registering on My Turn, and a representative from the CDPH is supposed to call you to arrange an in-home visit or transportation. My Turn will ask you to provide a cellphone number and an email address.
The state says this is so you can use two-factor authentication to confirm your identity and make your appointment, and to prevent bots from automatically scooping up available appointments online. If you don’t have an email address or a cellphone number, or you have questions, you can call the California COVID-19 hotline at (833) 422-4255 (Monday–Friday 8 a.m.
–8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 8 a.
m.–5 p.m.
PT) and sign up over the phone. Both English-speaking and Spanish-speaking operators are available. Callers needing information in other languages will be connected to a translation service that offers assistance in over 250 languages.
Visit your county’s public health website to learn if your county will soon be offering the new updated COVID vaccine to its residents, particularly those who are uninsured or under-insured. The CDC’s Bridge Access Program , which was launched in September 2023 to provide free COVID vaccinations to uninsured people, was forecast to last until December — but is instead ending this month . A CDC spokesperson told KQED that the agency will now be supplying states with “$62 million of unused vaccine contract money,” to support state and local health departments this respiratory virus season “and help improve access for uninsured and underinsured Americans to COVID vaccines.
” Right now, details of how this will practically work for folks without insurance in California is unclear, so we’ll keep updating this section as we find out new information relating to how people without health insurance can find a free or low-cost vaccine. Uninsured children ages 18 and under can still get free COVID vaccines — and other free immunizations — as part of the Vaccines for Children Program . Something to watch for this fall: If you get your health care through a health system like Kaiser Permanente, you’ll be asked to pay out-of-pocket if you try to get your new COVID vaccine at a pharmacy like CVS or Walgreens.
Why? Usually, if you have health insurance, you should be able to give your insurer’s details at a pharmacy vaccination appointment to have the cost of your shot billed to them. Health systems like Kaiser are the exception to this, and so you almost certainly won’t be able to get your new COVID vaccine at a pharmacy like CVS or Walgreens, the way you can’t get your flu shot covered by Kaiser at a pharmacy either. Instead, last year Kaiser recommended its members receive their updated COVID shot at a Kaiser facility.
The health system’s website says that “when provided by Kaiser Permanente, COVID-19 vaccines are covered at no cost,” but that “most California members” apart from Medi-Cal members will need to pay for the shot if obtained elsewhere. (KP.com also states that you “may be able to get up to half of the cost reimbursed” from Kaiser if you do.
) This meant that in 2023, people with health insurance through Kaiser faced a longer wait for their new COVID vaccine than folks with other types of insurance, unless they were prepared to pay these large costs up-front. CVS, for example, charges $190.99 for the new COVID vaccine “if CVS is not in network with your insurance plan.
” We’ll keep updating this guide with information as we get it. Find a Kaiser location near you that may be offering the new COVID vaccine when it’s available..
