As COVID-19 cases continue to surge, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved updated COVID vaccines from both Pfizer and Moderna on Thursday.
The new vaccines are an update from last year’s shots and aim to keep people better protected by targeting a recently dominant COVID-19 subvariant, KP.2, which more closely resembles the subvariants that are currently making people sick.
The shots are an important way to decrease your risk of severe disease and hospitalization. Here’s what you need to know about the new shots.
The shots are available to everyone 6 months and older.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the shots for everyone 6 months and older.
The new shots should be available within days, but you shouldn’t get the shot right away if you were recently infected or vaccinated.
Pfizer and Moderna will start shipping out the vaccines ASAP, and the shots are expected to be available at pharmacies and doctor’s offices within days.
If you’re able, you should get your COVID-19 shot soon so you’re fully protected ahead of respiratory virus season.
But, for those who have recently had COVID-19, the CDC says you can wait three months after your infection to get the new COVID booster (but you do not have to).
Or, if you’ve recently gotten a COVID vaccine, you need to wait two months since your last COVID dose to get this new shot.
If you don’t know when you’re eligible for your COVID vaccine, it’s best to talk to your primary care doctor. They can look at your health history to determine when you should get the jab.
Lots of people have COVID right now, and if you get sick, it’s important to take precautions.
If it seems like lots of people are either currently sick with COVID or have been recently infected, you’re not wrong. COVID levels are at the highest they’ve been since January of this year, according to wastewater surveillance data.
If you do get sick, it’s important that you follow precautions to keep your loved ones and your community healthy.
“Essentially now they’re doing COVID isolation similar to all respiratory viruses … so, if you have symptoms [or] you have a fever, you should stay home until [the symptoms] are improving and also that you’re fever-free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medication,” Dr. Donald Dumford, an infectious disease physician at Cleveland Clinic Akron General in Ohio, previously told HuffPost.
After isolating, wear a tight-fitting mask for five days when you’re out in public so you can keep the virus from spreading.
Washing your hands, wearing a mask in public and gathering in outdoor spaces can help you stay healthy, too, as we head into fall respiratory virus season.
Want some extra protection? Check out one of these non-counterfeit KN95 and N95 face masks below.
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Powecom KN95 face mask in white
Bona Fide Masks is the exclusive U.S. and Canada distributor of masks manufactured by Guangzhou Powecom Labor Insurance Supplies Co., LTD. An online version of an executive authenticity statement states the masks are certified by the FDA.
The Powecom KN95 mask comes with latex-free ear loops and an adjustable metal nose piece. Its construction features multiple breathable layers of filtration. And according to Bona Fide’s website, “all respirators manufactured after May 20, 2020 are affixed with an anti-fake sticker that can be used to verify authenticity.”
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WellBefore KN95 medical respirator mask
Amazon
An NIOSH-approved N95 foldable mask