When can I get COVID booster in NY? FDA, CDC panel approved new vaccines. What to know

A new COVID-19 vaccine booster is expected to rollout in New York after a key Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel on Tuesday approved the shots to help reduce serious illness amid rising infections and hospitalizations.

Doses of the new booster should arrive at pharmacies and medical providers across New York in coming days, according to prior pandemic trends and regulator comments.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which advises the CDC, voted 13-1 on Tuesday to recommend the new vaccines for use in ages 6 months and older. The Food and Drug Administration signed off on them on Monday.

Medical experts on the CDC panel on Tuesday debated whether all ages benefited substantially from another booster shot.

Many of the panel members asserted the recommendation is clearly supported for use in older Americans and those with underlying risk factors, such as obesity and other health issues. Several panelists raised questions about the lack of clear benefit for young, otherwise healthy people, citing in part a comparatively lower threat of severe COVID illness in this group.

At the same time, new studies suggest the booster dose is proving effective at limiting serious illness from all COVID-19 variants currently circulating, including the latest BA.2.86, nicknamed Pirola, as well as long COVID.

The booster push come as the number of New Yorkers hospitalized for COVID has increased about 7% over the past week, reaching nearly 1,500 as of Monday but remaining well below levels seen in prior waves, state data show. That number includes 213 patients and 91 patients in the Mid-Hudson and Finger Lakes regions, respectively.

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Where will new COVID booster be available in NY?

Once available, New Yorkers can search online for vaccination providers in their community via vaccines.gov, or call the federal vaccine hotline at 1-800-232-0233.

Pfizer and Moderna — the drug companies that made separate versions of the booster — have both said they will be able to ship out doses to pharmacies and health centers immediately upon federal approval.

What CDC, FDA say about new COVID booster?

Federal regulators this week issued approvals related just to the vaccines manufactured by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech.

Both of their vaccines will be updated to target the omicron variant XBB.1.5, which was the dominant variant this spring and early summer.

It has since been replaced by other variants, but early research suggests the new vaccines will be protective against those variants, as well.

The FDA officially:

• Approved use of the updated version of Comirnaty, Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine, for people 12 and older.

• Approved use of the updated version of Spikevax, Moderna's vaccine, for people 18 and older.

• Authorized use of the updated versions of both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna's vaccines for emergency use in children ages 6 months through 11 years.

The CDC advisory panel officially recommended the vaccines for use in adolescents and adults, as well as emergency use for ages 6 months through 11 years.

CDC Director Mandy Cohen will have to sign off on the recommendation from the panel before booster shots begin.

Drug makers will charge upwards of $100 per dose of COVID-19 vaccines going forward, but many health insurance plans will cover that entire cost (depending on coverage network specifics). And the federal "Bridge Access Program" will continue to provide free COVID-19 vaccine doses to uninsured Americans this fall.

Karen Weintraub of USA TODAY contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: New COVID vaccine approved. Where can I get one in NY? What to know