By Annika Kim Constantine -
CNBC
Updated versions of the COVID-19 vaccine boosters, which focus on the omicron subvariants, have finally arrived and may already be available at a vaccination center near you.
The new doses from Pfizer and Moderna are bivalent, meaning they attack both the original strain of COVID-19 and the BA.5 subvariant of omicron.
Last week, the US Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved Pfizer's updated booster for people 12 and older, and Moderna's updated vaccine for those 18 and older. .
To be eligible, you'll need to have completed your primary vaccination schedule and it must be at least two months after your last dose of any COVID-19 vaccine, according to the CDC.
Agency advisers also say that if you were recently infected, you should wait three months after testing negative before getting your updated booster.
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For now, the new vaccines are free.
Here are some sites where they are administered, if you are eligible:
Walgreens began offering the new Pfizer and Moderna boosters last week.
The doses have not yet reached all the locations of that chain, but new appointments are added daily.
You can view and schedule your appointment on the Walgreens website, in the pharmacy app, or by calling 1-800-WALGREENS.
Last week, CVS also began offering the updated boosters.
Its online system allows appointments to be scheduled for multiple patients at once, which could make it easier for all members of a family to get vaccinated together.
You can make those appointments on the CVS website or pharmacy app.
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Rite Aid, which also owns the Pacific Northwest chain Bartell Drugs, began offering the new Pfizer and Moderna boosters Tuesday at some of its stores.
You can make an appointment on the Rite Aid website or the Bartell Drugs website.
Several states, including Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Colorado, have websites that help locate other clinics with the new boosters.
Check your state health department's website to see if it offers similar resources.
The vaccines.gov platform now has a search filter for “newly licensed bivalent” boosters, which you can use to find other locations.
The website says that if you can't find a convenient location, you should check back later, contact your local health department or health care provider.
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Walgreens' online tool specifies when a location offers the "updated booster."
Other pharmacies and clinics, including CVS, don't necessarily specify this, but any booster shots you get now will be the new one, according to the latest FDA guidelines.
That's because when the FDA authorized the new boosters, it also changed its authorization for the original "monovalent" vaccines that have been used since December 2020. Those shots can no longer be used as booster doses for people over 12 years of age, although they remain the only primary immunization options for unvaccinated people.
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More than 200 million people are eligible for the new vaccines, a CDC official said last week.
So far,
the Biden administration has secured 171 million doses of the new boosters
, including 105 million from Pfizer and 66 million from Moderna, an indicator that the country's supply of free doses will likely meet demand from the general public.
If you can't find an appointment now, don't worry—doses are still being shipped to vaccination sites across the country.
Appointment availability is likely to increase in the coming days and weeks.
