Choosing Your COVID-19 Booster Shot

Three COVID-19 vaccines are authorized or approved for use in the United States to prevent COVID-19. Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna (COVID-19 mRNA vaccines) are preferred.  You may get Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen COVID-19 vaccine in some situations.

Schedule Your Booster Shot

What to Expect During and After Your Booster Shot Appointment

• Bring your CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Record card to your booster shot appointment so your provider can fill in the information about your booster dose. If you did not receive a card at your first appointment, contact the vaccination site where you got your first shot or your state health department to find out how you can get a card.
• You may experience side effects after getting a COVID-19 vaccine. These are normal signs that your body is building protection against COVID-19.
• Use v-safe to tell CDC about any side effects. If you enter your booster shot in your v-safe account, the system will send you daily health check-ins.

If You Were Vaccinated Outside of the United States

If you completed a Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, or J&J/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine primary series outside of the United States you should follow the guidance above for booster shots. 

Otherwise, if you were vaccinated abroad with other COVID-19 vaccines you can get a booster shot if you are 16 years or older and you either: 

• Received all the recommended doses of a World Health Organization emergency use listing (WHO-EUL) COVID-19 vaccineexternal icon, not approved or authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 
• Or completed a mix and match series composed of any combination of FDA-approved, FDA-authorized, or WHO-EUL COVID-19 vaccines 

If you meet the above requirements you can get a single booster shot of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at least 6 months after getting all recommended doses or completing a mix and match COVID-19 vaccine series.

Data Supporting Need for a Booster Shot

• Although COVID-19 vaccines remain effective in preventing severe disease, recent data suggest their effectiveness at preventing infection or severe illness wanes over time, especially in people ages 65 years and older.
• The recent emergence of the Omicron variant further emphasizes the importance of vaccination, boosters, and prevention efforts needed to protect against COVID-19.
• Data from clinical trials showed that a booster shot increased the immune response in trial participants who finished a Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna primary series 6 months earlier or who received a J&J/Janssen single-dose vaccine 2 months earlier. With an increased immune response, people should have improved protection against getting infected with COVID-19. For Pfizer-BioNTech and J&J/Janssen, clinical trials also showed that a booster shot helped prevent severe disease.

Information gathered from CDC website.