LATEST UPDATED: 9/12/2023
- Everyone aged 6 years and older should get 1 updated Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to be up to date.
- People aged 65 years and older may get a 2nd dose of updated Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
- People who are moderately or severely immunocompromised may get additional doses of updated Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
- Children aged 6 months–5 years may need multiple doses of COVID-19 vaccine to be up to date, including at least 1 dose of updated Pfizer-BioNTech or
- Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, depending on the number of doses they’ve previously received and their age.
COVID-19 vaccines are meant to prevent you from getting COVID-19 and from spreading it to others. The ability of COVID-19 vaccines to protect us from spreading the virus to others is not yet known, but is being studied carefully.
CDC’s Benefits of Getting a COVID-19 Vaccine.Vaccines help our immune system fight infections in the future. COVID-19 vaccines will protect us from the virus that causes COVID-19 without having to get the illness.
It typically takes a few weeks after the last dose in a series to become fully protected. On the days after taking the vaccine, you may have a sore arm, aches, fatigue or fever, but these are not harmful. These symptoms signal that your immune system is developing protection from the virus.