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A new vaccine against COVID-19 will soon be available in pharmacies as the U.S. faces a surge in infections. But is it a good idea to jump in line for the new shot so soon, or should you wait a few weeks to get the most protection from a potential winter outbreak?
Experts say it depends on your health, whether you’ve had COVID-19 recently, which vaccine you plan to get, and when it’s convenient for you to get it.
“Frankly, that’s not a clear-cut answer,” said Dr. Carlos del Rio, a distinguished professor of medicine at Emory University and an infectious disease expert.
“We’re in the middle of a big wave right now, and a lot of people, including myself, have recently contracted COVID-19,” he said.
So he’s going to hold off on getting his latest shot.
“If you have had the infection within the last three months, I would wait. In a sense, you don’t need to get the vaccine because you have already been infected; you have been ‘vaccinated’ by the current strain,” he said.
Meanwhile, if you haven’t had COVID-19 recently, “we encourage you to get vaccinated as soon as possible,” del Rio said, especially if you’re over 65. The same goes for people with underlying health conditions that put them at higher risk for severe outcomes from COVID-19.
Who is at highest risk of hospitalization or death? Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a member of the US Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccine Advisory Committee, says there are four main groups of people who become seriously ill with COVID-19.
“One is people with weakened immune systems. Two is people with medical conditions that put them at high risk, such as obesity, diabetes, chronic liver disease, lung disease or heart disease. Three is pregnant women. Fourth is what I now reluctantly call elderly people,” Offit said, categorizing people over 75.
Offit and other experts say young, healthy adults are better off waiting. In fact, it may be wise to do so, since the front-line immunity boost that vaccination gives you will fade within a few months. Waiting until fall could give you better protection during the peak respiratory virus season in December and January.
“If you haven’t been infected recently, a new booster shot is really important,” said Dr. Megan Ranney, dean of the Yale School of Public Health. “The current coronavirus variants are very different from last winter’s variants, and this year’s booster shots are tailored to the new variants.”
She agrees that older people and those with underlying health conditions who haven’t been infected recently should get vaccinated now, but she plans to delay getting her own shot a little.
“I’m going to wait until around October to get my flu shot,” she said.
Ranney noted that Pfizer and Moderna’s improved mRNA vaccines will likely be available first, with Novavax’s vaccine likely to be available within the next few weeks.
“These vaccines are very safe, but if for any reason you have concerns about the mRNA, a protein-based Novavax booster will also be available shortly,” she said.
Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at the University of California, San Francisco, has also been waiting for weeks.
“I’m definitely not going to pop out and get a shot. I’m more worried about the winter than the summer,” he said.
But the golden rule for getting vaccinated is to “know thyself,” he says, and for those who are distracted or busy and tend to forget, the best time to get the shot is when it’s convenient for them.
“It’s a general rule of thumb: if it’s convenient for people and there’s a chance they won’t be able to get vaccinated later in the year, any vaccine is better than none,” Chin Hong said. “In my case, I’d like to get everything at the same time, so I can get the flu and the COVID at the same time, which will minimize the number of trips I have to make.”
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Dr. Peter Hotez, an infectious disease expert and head of vaccine development at Texas Children’s Hospital, said ideally, people wouldn’t have to figure out the best time to get a single dose when there are multiple waves of COVID-19 each year.
“The reality is, we’ve had waves of COVID-19 every summer for the last few years, and I think we need to reset or rethink how we deliver the COVID vaccine,” Hotez said.
“Given the fact that the mRNA vaccines are not very durable — not as durable as we would like — vaccinations should be done twice a year,” he said. “And the question is, can companies afford to manufacture more than one dose of vaccine per year? … That will be the next set of questions.”