Stay Up to Date with COVID-19 Vaccines Including Boosters

About COVID-19 Vaccines

COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States are effective at protecting people from getting seriously ill, being hospitalized, and dying. As with other diseases, you are protected best from COVID-19 when you stay up to date with the recommended vaccines, including recommended boosters.

Four COVID-19 vaccines are approved or authorized in the United States to prevent COVID-19: Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Novavax, and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen (J&J/Janssen). It’s recommended that the J&J/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine only be considered in some situations.

Updated COVID-19 boosters can both help restore protection that has decreased since previous vaccination, and provide broader protection against newer variants. The updated, or bivalent boosters, target the most recent Omicron subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5, that are more contagious and more resistant than earlier strains of Omicron.

When Are You Up to Date?

You are up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines if you have completed a COVID-19 vaccine primary series and received the most recent booster dose recommended for you by CDC.

Vaccine recommendations are based on your age, the vaccine you first received, and time since last dose. People who are moderately or severely immunocompromised have different recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines.

Children and teens ages 6 months–17 years

Adults ages 18 years and older

¹ Talk to your healthcare or vaccine provider about the timing for the 2nd dose in your primary series.

• People ages 6 months through 64 years, and especially males ages 12 through 39 years, may consider getting the 2nd primary dose of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna) 8 weeks after the 1st dose.
  • A longer time between the 1st and 2nd primary doses may increase how much protection the vaccines offer, and further minimize the rare risk of myocarditis and pericarditis.
• Anyone wanting protection due to high levels of community transmission, people ages 65 years and older, or people who are more likely to get very sick from COVID-19, should get the second dose of:
  • Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine 3 weeks (or 21 days) after the first dose.
  • Moderna COVID-19 vaccine 4 weeks (or 28 days) after the first dose.
  • Novavax COVID-19 vaccine 3 weeks (or 21 days) after the first dose.

² If you have completed your primary series, but are not yet eligible for a booster, you are also considered up to date.

Mixing COVID-19 Vaccine Products

Primary series

CDC does not recommend mixing products for your primary series doses. If you received Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, or Novavax for the first dose of your primary series, you should get the same product for all following primary series doses.

Boosters

• People ages 18 years and older may get a different product for a booster than they got for their primary series, as long as it is Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna.
• Teens ages 12-17 years may get a different product for a booster than they got for their primary series, as long as it is Pfizer-BioNTech.
• Children ages 5 through 11 years who got a Pfizer-BioNTech primary series must also get Pfizer-BioNTech for a booster.
• People ages 12 years and older may only get the updated (bivalent) mRNA (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna) booster. They can no longer get an original (monovalent) mRNA booster.
• Novavax is not authorized for use as a booster dose at this time.

Vaccination Outside the United States

Specific recommendations for people vaccinated outside of the United States depend on whether:

• The vaccine(s) received are accepted in the United States
• The primary series was completed and, if eligible, a booster dose was received

These recommendations apply only to people who are not moderately or severely immunocompromised.

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