Well, the newest, updated Covid-19 vaccines are now available at your local pharmacy, clinic or such-and-such. This includes the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines and the Novavax recombinant protein vaccine. They’ve been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration—fully approved by the FDA and not just emergency use authorized. So, the big questions you may be wondering about are whether and when to get this latest vaccine and which one to get.
Should you get the updated Covid-19 vaccine?
If you are less than six months of age, congratulations on your ability to read and no, you do not qualify to get any of the vaccines. The Moderna or Pfizer-BioNtech vaccines are FDA-approved for those 6 months and older while the Novavax vaccine is FDA-approved for those 12 years and older.
If you are old enough to get the vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that you go ahead and get vaccinated. The exception is if you just got vaccinated or infected with the virus within the past four months. Then you may want to wait until four months has passed so that you can get the maximum immune response from the vaccine.
The immune protection offered by the vaccines tends to start waning about four to six months after vaccination. So, if you got the last updated vaccine last Fall, a lot of that protection may have gone bye-bye-bye by now.
Plus, the vaccines from last year targeted previous severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants from 2023 that have since gone the way of skinny jeans and midi skirts. As you have probably figured out by now, new variants have been emerging at the rate of new fashion with a new dominant variant every several months or so.
The latest Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines target the KP.2 Omicron variant that was dominant during the Summer whereas the Novavax vaccine targets the JN.1 variant that was widespread earlier this year. None of the vaccines specifically target the KP.3.1.1 variant, which is the alpha-dog variant currently. But the targets of these updated vaccines are significantly closer to what’s going on now than the targets of the vaccines from other years and thus should offer stronger protection.
It’s especially important to get these updated vaccines if you are at higher risk of getting more severe Covid-19. That would be the case if you have a weaker immune system from being over 65 years of age, having a chronic medical condition or getting medical treatment that suppresses your immune system.
For most adults the protective benefits of getting the updated vaccines far, far outweigh the risks. More major side effects such as myocarditis from the vaccines have been quite rare. And by now over five billion people or over 70% of the world’s population have been vaccinated against Covid. Many have gotten vaccinated multiple times.
Now, some have said that the updated Covid vaccine may not be necessary if you are less than 30 years of age and have previously been vaccinated. The argument is that the risk of death, hospitalization and more severe Covid-19 outcomes is no longer high enough for such younger people. It is true that the risk of bad stuff happening from a SARS-CoV-2 infection for anyone is significantly lower now than it was back in 2020 and 2021. That’s because our immune systems are now longer so virginal to the SARS-CoV-2, given previous exposure to its spike proteins via vaccination or natural infection.
But it’s not as if Covid-19 has become just like a cold. It’s not even at the level of the flu yet. The risk of very bad stuff happening is still high enough to merit concern even if you are younger. So it’s not as if you should be gesturing “bring it on” towards the virus.
Plus, there is the lingering risk of long Covid after you’ve supposedly recovered from a SARS-CoV-2 infection. Long Covid is kind of the big Covid-19 elephant in the room that many political and business leaders are not talking about these days. They may want to make it seem like COVID-19 is no longer a threat and everything is hunky-dory SARS-CoV-2-wise when it’s not that way yet. Of course, the best way to avoid long Covid is to not get Covid in the first place and evidence suggests that the Covid vaccines may reduce your risk of getting long Covid.
When should you get the updated Covid-19 vaccine?
The answer to this question is a little tricky. We have been in the midst of a Summer Covid surge. So, it may help to have more protection right now, especially if you aren’t doing anything else like wearing a N95 face mask to keep the SARS-CoV-2 away from your respiratory tract.
The trouble, though, is the whole “wane world” thing. Again, the protection from the vaccine tends to wane significantly after four to six months. By then the world around you will have moved into the Winter months if you are in the Northern Hemisphere. And remember, since 2020, every mid-November has seen the start of a major Winter Covid surge. Who’s to say this November will be different as the colder and drier air, the movement of activities indoors and the Holiday travel could once again contribute to greater SARS-CoV-2 transmission and spread.
Therefore, if you want to get maximal protection throughout much of the anticipated Winter surge, it may make sense to wait until mid-October to get the updated Covid vaccine. This is the typical recommendation for the flu vaccine as well. So next month you could get a pair—a pair of the flu and Covid vaccines, that is.
Which updated Covid-19 vaccine should you get?
If you are still a bit squeamish about the newer mRNA technology despite all its testing and use over the past four years, you may feel more comfortable with the more traditional approach of the Novavax vaccine. While the mRNA vaccines contain mRNA that then go into your cells and serve as blueprints for you cells to produce the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, the Novavax vaccine includes a version of the spike protein itself. To manufacture the spike protein, Novavax uses the same process that has been long utilized for vaccines—such as the Hepatitis B vaccine—that have been around for many years.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are pretty darn similar. The main difference is that the Moderna vaccines have higher doses of mRNA in them, which could mean a somewhat higher rate of side effects like fever, fatigue and body aches in the days after vaccination. The Moderna vaccines could offer a slightly higher degree of protection as a result too. But there really isn’t a slam dunk protection difference between the two mRNA vaccines.
There is also the question of money. The government used to pay for all the vaccines, including boatloads of money to the manufacturers to develop and manufacture the vaccines. But that’s no longer completely the case. Plus, Pfizer and Moderna have—surprise, surprise—since pushed up the prices of their vaccines several-fold. So, first check to see if your insurance—if you have it— will cover the cost of the vaccine of interest. if it doesn’t or if you are uninsured, you may be able to find a clinic that still offers the vaccine at low to no cost.
One final thing to remember. Vaccination against Covid is not like having a full-body concrete condom around you. The protection offered against more severe Covid is not 100% and you can still catch the virus if exposed.
Moreover, the chances of the virus being transmitted to you does depend on how many people around you have gotten the latest vaccines too. Since only about 22% of eligible adults got the last Covid vaccines, the majority of people around you could end up being relatively unprotected against the Covid-19, be readily infected and as a result shed the virus in larger amounts.
Therefore, even if you do get the updated Covid vaccine, it is still a good idea to take other Covid precautions simulatenously. After all, remember all the talk a few years about taking the so-called “Swiss cheese” approach and layering different protections on top of each other to cover the holes in each type of protection. And even though the Covid-19 situation has improved significantly since then, 2024 is not necessarily a hole different situation.
