The Food and Drug Administration approved new mRNA coronavirus vaccines Thursday, clearing the way for shots manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna to start hitting pharmacy shelves and doctor’s offices within a week.
Health officials encourage annual vaccination against the coronavirus, similar to yearly flu shots. Everyone 6 months and older should receive a new vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends.
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The new vaccines target the KP.2 variant because most recent covid cases are caused by that strain or closely related ones.
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The United States differs from other countries in recommending an updated coronavirus vaccine for everyone except young infants, rather than just those at heightened risk for severe disease because they are 65 or older, are moderately to severely immunocompromised or have serious medical conditions.
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Coronavirus vaccines are sold as a commercial product and are no longer purchased and distributed by the federal government for free. That means they won’t be as readily accessible as they once were, but they shouldn’t be too hard to find.
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CVS said its expects to start administering them within days, and Walgreens said that it would start scheduling appointments to receive shots after Sept. 6 and that customers can walk in before then.
Availability at doctor’s offices might take longer. Finding shots for infants and toddlers could be more difficult because many pharmacies do not administer them and not every pediatrician’s office will stock them given low demand and limited storage space.
This year’s updated coronavirus vaccines are supposed to have a longer shelf life, which eases the financial pressures of stocking them.
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Most insurance plans are required to cover recommended vaccines under the Affordable Care Act, but some may not cover shots administered by out-of-network providers.
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Public health officials encourage receiving covid and flu shots in the same visit as a way to increase vaccination rates, and say that no serious side effects associated with co-administering the vaccines have been identified.
FDA release: https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-and-authorizes-updated-mrna-covid-19-vaccines-better-protect-against-currently
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FDA release: https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-and-authorizes-updated-mrna-covid-19-vaccines-better-protect-against-currently