New COVID-19 vaccines are now available: What’s different this time

New COVID vaccines that are better suited to the virus will soon begin rolling out after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the shots on Thursday.

The new vaccines are made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has already recommended the updated COVID vaccines for everyone 6 months and older, along with an updated seasonal flu vaccine, so people can get one as soon as they arrive at pharmacies in the coming days, as long as it’s been at least two months since their last shot.

According to CDC wastewater data, “very high” rates of COVID have been recorded in the summer of 2024. Part of the problem with the summer surge may have to do with people’s waning immunity to vaccines and previous infections (along with the constant revolving door of new, contagious versions of Omicron). So the availability of updated vaccines is expected to be a useful tool in avoiding severe illness as we head into the colder months and respiratory virus season.

As COVID-19 has moved from a pandemic to an endemic stage (meaning COVID-19 is still making people sick, but in more predictable ways that can be mitigated with available treatments), CDC officials have streamlined guidelines on vaccines and isolation to make it easier for everyone to follow them when they have symptoms of a respiratory virus. Here’s what you need to know.

When will the new COVID vaccines be available? How much do they cost?

Most likely in the next few days. The CDC preemptively recommended the Moderna, Pfizer and Novavax vaccines earlier this summer, and now that the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are officially approved by the FDA, it’s just a matter of when pharmacies get them. The updated vaccines from both mRNA companies target KP.2, which, compared to the strain targeted by last year’s vaccines, more closely resemble the versions of the virus that are currently making people sick.

The FDA has not yet approved Novavax’s new vaccine, but it is expected to be another option later this year.

One change this time around is that the cost of COVID vaccines is no longer covered by the federal government, although both COVID vaccines and flu shots should be covered by people’s insurance, including Medicare. The Bridge Access Program provided COVID vaccines for free to people without health insurance, though it is set to end this month. While new measures will be needed to keep COVID vaccines free for adults, there is a separate program in place to keep vaccines free for all children.

What should I do if I test positive for COVID?

The CDC’s new general guidelines focus on what to do when you have symptoms of a respiratory virus or feel sick, rather than on the results of a COVID test. However, since treatment depends on the virus you have, it’s always best to get a COVID test if you can.

If you are at higher risk for any respiratory virus (including complications from COVID, flu, or RSV), it’s especially important to find out which virus you have (through testing and seeking medical care) so you can get the right treatment, as it varies depending on which virus you are sick with.

If you are an adult age 50 or older, or if you have a chronic condition such as heart disease, high blood pressure, asthma, diabetes, or other, You may be eligible to receive an antiviral medication (including Paxlovid) that will lessen the severity of your illness and reduce your risk of hospitalization. You can get it by calling your primary care doctor or regular pharmacist or by finding a Test to Treat site, where people who have Medicare or Medicaid, uninsured people, and people with VA insurance or those receiving Indian Health Services can get free testing and treatment for COVID-19. It’s important that you start taking the antiviral within the first few days of symptoms for the medication to work.

For everyone who has COVID, or suspects they may have it, the CDC recommends following its general guidelines for preventing the spread of respiratory viruses when sick. This includes: Stay home and away from others When you feel sick, whether you get tested or not.

You can “return to your normal activities,” the CDC says, as long as it’s been 24 hours since your symptoms started to generally improve and as long as it’s been 24 hours since you had a fever (and you haven’t taken fever-reducing medications, like ibuprofen). Then, take extra precautions for five days afterward improvement, which may include wearing a mask or avoiding people who are at higher risk of getting severely ill from COVID or other respiratory viruses.

This is a change from pandemic-era guidelines, which were more specific about when and how long to isolate after exposure to COVID-19 or a positive test result. Why is this?

“This is an endemic virus for which there is a large population immunity and medical countermeasures,” Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said in an email. “Recommendations should reflect that context and be such that people can implement them with relative ease.”