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New Covid Vaccines Are Coming. Here’s What to Know.
We asked experts about the right time to get a shot, and how long protection will last.
Aug. 22, 2024
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/22/well/covid...sters.html
The Food and Drug Administration approved updated Covid-19 vaccines on Thursday, paving the way for the shots to soon land in pharmacies, doctors’ offices and health centers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said it will recommend that adults and children six months and older get updated vaccines. Here’s what to know.
VS what to dismiss as anecdotes from people who generalize, jump to conclusions, about people 'they know', who didn't get the vaxxes and are fine or who got the vaxxes and died, without regard to the far greater numbers of people that they DON'T know, who flip those anecdotes on their head.
![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/08/22/well/22WELL-BOOSTER-SERVICE/22WELL-BOOSTER-SERVICE-superJumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp)
How are the new shots different?
The F.D.A. approved one vaccine from Pfizer and one from Moderna. Representatives from the drug companies said that their shots were ready to ship immediately after approval.
Both vaccines target KP.2, a strain of the coronavirus that started to spread widely this spring. The variants that are most prevalent in the United States right now are very similar to KP.2, and so the vaccines should protect against them.
New Covid Shots Were Approved. But Who Will Get Them?
Aug. 22, 2024
“When the match is very good, as we anticipate it would be with the current circulating strains, you get actual protection from infection for several months,” said Dr. Paul Sax, the clinical director of the division of infectious diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
The vaccine that rolled out last fall, by contrast, was geared at an older variant that has since petered out.
New Vaccines: The F.D.A. approved the latest slate of annual Covid vaccines. For the frailest Americans, who have been dying of Covid in growing numbers amidst a summer surge, the shots could offer a reprieve from a virus that disproportionately endangers those whose vaccinations are out of date.
Long Covid: About 400 million people worldwide have been afflicted with long Covid, according to a new report, which estimated that the global economic cost of the condition is about $1 trillion each year.
Dangerous Inflammation in Children: According to a new study, Covid-19 can set off an autoimmune reaction that leads to multi-inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C, a rare and sometimes fatal condition.
Free Vaccine Program to End: A C.D.C. program that provided more than one million Covid shots to uninsured and underinsured people will run out of funding by the end of August.
The biotechnology company Novavax is waiting for the F.D.A. to authorize its retooled vaccine, which will target JN.1, a variant that is also close to the strains circulating widely now.
What if I just got a vaccine?
If you received a dose of the older vaccine this summer, you may not be able to get an updated vaccine immediately — the shots need to be spread out.
People who are at high risk of developing severe disease should talk with a health care provider about the ideal interval between vaccines, said Fikadu Tafesse, a virologist at Oregon Health & Science University.
What if I just had Covid?
If you’re one of the many Americans who was infected during the summer, you may want to wait a few months to get a new shot. Rushing out to get one right after you were ill won’t give you much of an added benefit, because you already have strong protection, said Aubree Gordon, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Michigan. The C.D.C. has previously said that people can wait three months after a Covid infection to get a vaccine.
How fast does protection kick in?
It takes around a week or two after getting vaccinated for antibodies to rev up and defend against the virus. Antibodies peak about a month after vaccination, Dr. Gordon said.
Once you are vaccinated, you have a lower risk of infection for at least several weeks, said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco. “It might even be longer than that,” he said, because the vaccines are so closely matched to the dominant variants that are currently circulating.
And the vaccines will provide protection against the worst outcomes from Covid — developing severe disease, getting hospitalized and dying — for months.
When should I get vaccinated?
People who are at highest risk for severe disease, including those who are 65 and older, people who are immunocompromised and those with underlying medical conditions, should get the updated vaccines as soon as they are available, Dr. Sax said.
“There’s a lot circulating in the community now — that would help protect them,” he said.
People who are not at high risk may want to wait until October, Dr. Chin-Hong said, both to gain protection heading into the winter and holiday gatherings, and so that they can get flu shots at the same time.
“Convenience trumps everything,” he said.
Can I get it for free?
Many private insurance plans, along with Medicare and Medicaid, cover the cost of Covid shots. And children can receive free vaccines through a federal program. The C.D.C.’s Bridge Access Program, which has provided about 1.5 million free Covid shots to uninsured and underinsured people, will not be renewed for this year.
But Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, director of the C.D.C.’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said that the agency had found $62 million in unused vaccine contract funding that would be sent to state and local immunization programs to help cover the cost of shots.
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