What to know
- Below are answers to commonly asked questions about COVID-19 vaccination.
Getting Your Updated COVID-19 Vaccine(s)
Yes. Learn which vaccines are available and choose which COVID-19 vaccine is best for you.
People who are moderately or severely immunocompromised may get additional doses of updated COVID-19 vaccine 2 or more months after getting the last updated COVID-19 vaccine.
People aged 65 years and older who received 1 dose of any updated 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna or Novavax) should receive 1 additional dose of an updated COVID-19 vaccine at least 4 months after the previous updated dose. For more Novavax information, click or tap here.
Talk to your healthcare provider about additional updated doses.
Yes, COVID-19 vaccination is recommended for people who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or trying to get pregnant, as well as people who might become pregnant in the future.
COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy helps:
- Prevent severe illness and death in people who are pregnant.
- Protect babies younger than 6 months old from hospitalization.
Learn more about vaccination considerations and the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines for people who are pregnant or breastfeeding.
There is no recommended waiting period between getting a COVID-19 vaccine and other vaccines. You can get a COVID-19 vaccine and other vaccines, including a flu vaccine, at the same visit
No. You should wait to be vaccinated to avoid potentially exposing healthcare personnel and others during the vaccination visit.
Stay home and away from others (including people you live with who are not sick) if you have a respiratory virus. You can go back to your normal activities when, for at least 24 hours, both are true:
- Your symptoms are getting better overall, and
- You have not had a fever (and are not using fever-reducing medication).
When you go back to your normal activities, take added precaution over the next 5 days, such as taking additional steps for cleaner air, hygiene, masks, physical distancing, and/or testing when you will be around other people indoors.
Learn more about the benefits of getting a COVID-19 vaccine.
Yes. You should get a COVID-19 vaccine even if you had COVID-19 infection.
Getting a COVID-19 vaccine after you recover provides added protection. You may consider delaying your vaccine by 3 months. However, certain factors could be reasons to get a vaccine sooner rather than later, such as:
• Personal risk of severe disease
• Risk of disease in a loved one or close contact
• COVID-19 is causing a lot of illness in your community
• COVID-19 variant currently causing the most illness
People who already had COVID-19 and do not get vaccinated after their recovery are more likely to get COVID-19 again.
Learn more about the benefits of getting a COVID-19 vaccine.
Getting Children and Teens Vaccinated
The COVID-19 vaccines for children have the same active ingredients as the vaccines given to adults. However, children receive a smaller, age-appropriate dose. The smaller doses were rigorously tested and found to create the needed immune response for each age group.
COVID-19 can make children and teens very sick and sometimes requires treatment in a hospital. Getting children and teens vaccinated against COVID-19 can help keep them from getting really sick if they do get COVID-19, including protecting them from short and long-term complications and hospitalization.
Learn more about the benefits of getting a COVID-19 vaccine.
No. Parents and caregivers should get their child (6 months and older) vaccinated as soon as possible. Getting vaccinated provides the best protection against serious illness if a child gets infected with the virus that causes COVID-19.
Safety
Adults and children may have some side effects from a COVID-19 vaccine, including pain, redness or swelling at the injection site, tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, fever, and nausea. These side effects typically resolve after a few days. Serious side effects are rare but may occur.
Vaccine ingredients vary by manufacturer. None of the COVID-19 vaccines contain eggs, gelatin, latex, or preservatives.
Learn more about the ingredients in COVID-19 vaccines:
Research and development on vaccines like the COVID-19 vaccines have been underway for decades. All steps were taken to ensure COVID-19 vaccine safety and effectiveness, including:
- Clinical Trials – All vaccines in the United States must go through three phases of clinical trials to ensure they are safe and effective. With the COVID-19 vaccine, the phases overlapped to speed up the process, but all were completed.
- Authorization or Approval – Before vaccines are available to people, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reviews data from clinical trials. FDA has determined COVID-19 vaccines meet FDA’s standards and has granted those vaccines Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) or full FDA approval.
- Tracking Safety Using Vaccine Monitoring Systems – Like every vaccine approved for use in the United States, COVID-19 vaccines continue to be monitored for safety and effectiveness. Hundreds of millions of people in the United States have safely received COVID-19 vaccines. CDC and FDA provide updated information on the safety of U.S. authorized or approved COVID-19 vaccines using data from the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD), Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), and other safety monitoring systems.
Learn more about developing COVID-19 vaccines.
Benefits
COVID-19 vaccines help prevent severe illness, hospitalization, and death. Unvaccinated people are more likely to get COVID-19 and much more likely to be hospitalized and die from COVID-19, compared to people who are up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations.
After Your Vaccine
CDC no longer distributes the white CDC COVID-19 Vaccination cards and does not maintain vaccination records.
Your state’s immunization information system (IIS) cannot issue you a vaccination card, but they can provide a digital or paper copy of your full vaccination record, including your COVID-19 vaccinations. Contact your state health department’s IIS.
There are several ways you can update your records with vaccines you received while outside the United States.
Learn more about Vaccination Received Outside the United States.