Why You Should Get the New COVID-19 Vaccine

WHY YOU SHOULD GET THE NEW COVID-19 VACCINE

The FDA has recently approved an updated version of the COVID-19 vaccine, designed to target a newer variant responsible for this summer’s rise in cases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) especially recommends that seniors over 65 receive this vaccine, as we are at higher risk for hospitalizations and fatalities. However, the CDC also advises waiting at least four months between doses if you’ve already received the second shot of the 2023-24 COVID vaccine. Since we had our last shots in June, we’ll get the updated vaccine in late October—but not wait any longer.

I found a very informative article about the new vaccine on AARP.org, written by Health Editor Rachel Nania and updated on September 3, 2024. Below are excerpts from 7 Things to Know About the New COVID Vaccines.

FDA approves updated coronavirus shots

The new shots — one from Moderna, another from Pfizer/BioNTech and a third from Novavax — are making their way to pharmacies and doctors’ offices across the country, and infectious disease experts hope the reformulated vaccines will help to quell the lingering summer spike and keep cases from swelling this fall and winter.

Here are seven things you need to know about the updated COVID-19 vaccines

1. The mRNA vaccines target a FLiRT variant

This summer, the FDA recommended that vaccine manufacturers target the KP.2 coronavirus strain in the 2024-2025 COVID vaccines.

At the time, KP.2, a member of the FLiRT variant family and a descendant of omicron, was behind a large share of increasing infections in the U.S. Though this particular strain is no longer among the top circulating variants, its close relatives are, and health experts expect that the updated vaccines will provide strong protection against them as well.

The FLiRT variants all came from the same parent strain, explains Jodie Guest, a professor and senior vice chair in the department of epidemiology at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. “And there are very, very minimal mutational changes between all of them.”

2. Another shot can restore waning immunity

It’s not just about making sure we have a vaccine that targets the most recent versions of the virus, Guest says. It’s also about restoring faded immunity.

“We know that immunity from this vaccine diminishes over time,” she says, so the vaccine you received last year isn’t providing you with optimal protection now, when many areas of the country report increased COVID activity.

Cases, emergency department visits and hospitalizations — particularly among adults 65 and older — are rising, the latest federal data shows. We’re seeing “somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 to 600 deaths per week in the country,” says Mark Rupp, M.D., a professor and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

“I think the population would like to put the pandemic in the rearview mirror and not really think about it anymore. But the virus is still very much with us and still continues to cause problems,” he says.

The vast majority of COVID hospitalizations that occurred from October 2023 to March 2024 were among individuals who were not vaccinated or not up to date on their vaccinations, according to data presented at a meeting of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory committee.

3. Vaccines can reduce the risk of long COVID

Beyond restoring protection from a short-term illness, the CDC says, the vaccines can reduce the likelihood “of suffering the effects of long COVID,” which has impacted an estimated 17 million U.S. adults, according to a report from the health policy nonprofit KFF.

Long COVID — marked by symptoms such as brain fog, fatigue, headaches and joint and muscle pain — can creep in after a coronavirus infection clears and last for months, even years. Symptoms can be so severe for some people that they can result in a disability, the CDC says.

“That risk of long COVID is there and it’s real, and it can be minimized by getting vaccinated,” Rupp says.

4. Virtually everyone should get new vaccine

The CDC recommended that everyone 6 months and older get an updated COVID vaccination once it’s available.

If you’re 65 and older and recently had a second shot of the 2023-2024 COVID vaccine, you may need to hold off, depending on when that last injection was. The recommendation has been to put at least four months between doses, though it’s always a good idea to consult with your doctor.

“It’s really important that everyone get this vaccine; it is even more important than anyone 60 and older get it,” Guest says. “And we just can’t stress enough that the majority of the severe complications from COVID-19, and unfortunately the fact that we still have deaths … they’re more likely to be among people who are older than 60. And so getting this is really important to protect them from consequences like that.”

5. The (mostly mild) side effects remain the same

Not everyone experiences side effects after vaccination, but some people do, and the FDA says for those individuals, there are no surprises with the updated vaccines.

Common side effects can include:

• Pain, swelling and redness at the injection site
• Fatigue
• Headache
• Muscle pain
• Chills
• Nausea
• Fever

Side effects tend to be mild and generally go away in a few days, the CDC says.

“These updated vaccines meet the agency’s rigorous, scientific standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality,” Peter Marks, M.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a statement.

6. You can get your COVID and flu shots at the same time

If you’re looking to save time and an extra trip to the clinic, you can get your COVID vaccine and flu shot — even the RSV vaccine, too — at the same time.

Some folks may want to make separate trips. High-risk individuals “might want to get themselves closer to the front of the line,” Rupp says, and get the COVID vaccination as soon as it comes out, given the amount of virus circulating in the community. The optimal time to get the flu shot is September and October, the CDC says.

Where you live may influence your decision on whether to pair up flu and COVID vaccines. “The northern half of the country tends to see the flu season start close to a month earlier than the southern part of the country,” Guest says. “And so in the northern states, I would not even consider waiting. I would go ahead and get both if they were available. If they are not available for some reason, and only COVID is, I would get the COVID [vaccine now] and then go back [for your flu shot].”

7. An updated vaccine from Novavax is authorized

Novavax’s vaccine — which uses a more traditional (protein-based) technology from the mRNA vaccines — was authorized by the FDA on Aug. 30 for individuals 12 and older.