With COVID-19 showing signs of a summer surge in Austin, you may be wondering if you should re-up your immunity with a new dose of the vaccine.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it might be the right time for a booster for some Americans, depending on their age, health status and other factors. But other folks may want to hold out for fall when an updated formulation of the COVID-19 vaccine will be available.
The CDC recommended new versions of the vaccine in late June from the manufacturers Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax. Each of those shots is expected to become available in the coming weeks, although no official date has been set.
Do I need a COVID booster now or should I wait?
If you’ve been keeping up with your vaccinations and received a 2023-24 booster sometime in the past year, experts say you can hold off until this fall. That’s because the new doses will be formulated to address the COVID variants that are currently circulating and are likely to circulate in the coming months, including JN.1 and variants descended from JN.1. The 2023-24 vaccine formulation was aimed at another variant called XBB.1.5, which has since been eclipsed by JN.1 and its descendants. For that reason, the 2024-25 formulas are expected to provide better protection moving forward.
“Most people who have received a 2023–2024 updated COVID-19 vaccine can wait for the 2024-2025 updated COVID-19 vaccine which should be arriving in August or September of this year,” a spokesperson for Austin Public Health told KUT.
However, there are exceptions.
For folks who are previously unvaccinated or never received the 2023-24 booster, both APH and the CDC recommend getting a shot as soon as possible to get a baseline of protection against the virus. People aged 65 years and older and people with weakened immune systems are also encouraged to get a second dose of the 2023-24 shot if it’s been at least four months since their first dose. Caregivers for people in these groups may also want to consider getting a dose now instead of waiting for the fall.
People in their last trimester of pregnancy should also consider getting the shot that’s currently available, a CDC spokesperson said, in order to give their infant some protection during their first six months after birth. Six months is the earliest age infants can receive their own vaccination for COVID-19.
Tracking down doses, tests and treatments
However, folks looking for COVID-19 shots right now might have to contact a few pharmacies before they find a provider with the vaccine in stock.
Walgreens, for instance, currently plays the following automated message for people who call in asking about COVID-19 vaccinations: “COVID vaccines are limited right now as we prepare for the next season.”
I tried to test what this “limited availability” looked like by setting up a vaccine appointment for later this week. Anecdotally, Walgreens offered me an appointment at their Guadalupe Street location, but then notified me the next day that they had canceled the appointment. Your mileage may vary; a Walgreens representative told me availability may fluctuate from location to location as pharmacies use up their existing vaccine stock and await the updated dose.
Customers looking for other supplies to manage the current COVID surge — such as home tests and prescription COVID-19 treatments like Paxlovid — may also have to hunt around. On Monday, I called 10 local pharmacies, including multiple Walgreens and CVS locations as well as locally-owned shops like 38th Street Pharmacy. While about half had plenty of tests in stock, three pharmacies told me they had run out of COVID tests, one said they had just a few tests left, and another said they had just restocked after running out.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also has an online tool to see where Paxlovid and other antiviral treatments are available locally — though customers may want to double-check availability with individual locations.
