It’s the time of year when viruses tend to spread more easily as we migrate indoors. That’s why it is great news that the new bivalent COVID-19 vaccine booster has been authorized to provide us with more protection against COVID’s most recent variants. There are a lot of questions around the new boosters, so let’s go over the basics.

This new booster shot will specifically target the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants that are spreading widely as well as the original strain of the virus. This is why it is called a “bivalent” booster, because it targets two strains of virus. This is like annual flu shots that target multiple expected flu strains for each season.

The primary COVID-19 vaccine series will stay the same, given their proven efficacy in preventing serious illness, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19, so the bivalent vaccine is only available as a booster dose.

The new booster vaccines have an updated mRNA to produce a slightly different spike protein, tailored for the new Omicron variants. Otherwise, the basic ingredients are the same as the COVID-19 vaccine that many millions of people have already received.

The CDC recommends that everyone age 12 and up should get a bivalent COVID-19 booster this fall to stay up to date on vaccinations.

• Ages 18 and older can receive either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna bivalent booster at least two months after their most recent dose.
• Ages 12 – 17 can receive the Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent booster at least two months after their most recent dose.
• Ages 5 – 11 who have completed Pfizer-BioNTech’s primary vaccine series should continue to receive the company’s original monovalent booster at least 5 months after their most recent dose.
• Ages 6 months – 4 years are currently not authorized for any COVID-19 booster doses.

Many providers are beginning to receive the new booster doses now, but we may need to be patient at first. Washington state’s initial allocation of 191,100 bivalent booster doses may not meet the initial demand, but weekly allocations will follow.

The best thing to do now is to contact your health care provider to see when they will begin administering bivalent booster doses or keep checking vaccinelocator.doh.wa.gov for availability in the area. You’ll want to enter your zip code and under “Filters,” make sure the bivalent boosters are selected as the vaccine types.

Remember, the COVID-19 vaccine does not protect against the flu, so while you’re checking with your provider about your booster, don’t forget to ask when to get your flu shot! There is no need for time between the two, so you can even get them at the same time if you’d like. For more information about COVID-19 vaccinations, visit https://covid.srhd.org/vaccination or https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/stay-up-to-date.html.