U.S. plans to administer COVID doses like flu vaccine — annually

WASHINGTON — White House coronavirus coordinator Ashish Jha said Tuesday the newly reformulated omicron-targeting boosters mark an “important milestone” in the U.S. pandemic response, moving the country to a point where a single annual shot should provide a “high degree of protection against serious illness all year.”

The cadence would be similar to that of the annual flu shot, which could be administered at the same time.

“I really believe this is why God gave us two arms — one for the flu shot and the other one for the COVID shot,” Jha said.

Heading into the third fall of the pandemic, Jha and other Biden administration health officials urged eligible Americans to get an updated booster now. The shots are available for people as young as 12, following approval last week of boosters from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech that target the dominant circulating strain of the virus, BA.5.

Staying up to date on coronavirus vaccination can get the country back “to a more normal set of rules,” Jha said.

Barring curveballs from new variants, “it is reasonable to expect, based on what we know about immunology and science of this virus, that these new vaccines will provide better protection against infection, better protection against transmission and ongoing and better protection against serious illness,” he said at Tuesday’s news briefing.

Jha said this latest round of shots will offer protection during the busy cold and flu season and that the government hopes to transition people to getting the vaccine yearly. Typically, at least half of U.S. adults get a flu shot.

Moving to yearly coronavirus shots would be a shift from the current practice, where highrisk Americans have been urged to get boosters every few months but uptake has been disappointing. (The elderly and those with weakened immune systems may need more frequent doses.)

The federal government has purchased more than 170 million doses of the updated boosters, and doses began shipping last week. Like other coronavirus shots, the boosters will be free.

Officials have said people who have had a recent infection or were recently vaccinated should wait at least two months before getting the updated booster.