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.
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 1st updated COVID-19 vaccine. Talk to your healthcare provider about additional updated doses.
Recommendations for Children Aged 6 Months—5 Years
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 vaccine can consider other options to get up to date:
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 years who 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.
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.
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.)
Updated and Original COVID-19 Vaccines
Updated vaccines
The updated vaccines 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-BioNTech and Moderna, have developed updated COVID-19 vaccines.
Original 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, the original Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are no longer authorized for use by the FDA in the United States. Updated Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are being used for all age groups.
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:
link