Medicare covers a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot at no cost to you at least 6 months after you complete your vaccine series if you’re 65 and older OR 18 years and older and at high risk.
Get ready to help increase your protection with a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot. Medicare covers a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot at no cost to you. You can choose which vaccine you receive for your booster — get a booster from the same COVID-19 vaccine that you originally got, or choose a different one.
If you got a Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine and are 65 years or older (or 18 years or older and at high risk for getting severe COVID-19), you can get a booster shot at least 6 months after you complete your second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine series.
If you got a Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine and are 18 years or older, you can get a booster shot at least 2 months after you got your first shot.
Learn more about who should get a booster shot.
There are several reasons why you should get a booster shot. You may have built enough protection after your vaccination earlier this year, but that protection decreases over time against mild and moderate disease (this is called waning immunity). Also, while COVID-19 vaccines remain safe and remarkably effective against severe illness, hospitalization, and death, no vaccine is 100% effective at preventing infection. The Delta variant causes more infections and spreads faster than earlier forms of the virus that causes COVID-19, so we all need to stay on guard.
If you’re unvaccinated or just partially vaccinated, it’s critical for you to get your first round of vaccine shots right away, to lower your risk of COVID-19 and its more severe outcomes. Nearly all cases of severe disease, hospitalization, and death continue to occur among those who aren’t vaccinated.
To get your booster shot, or to start with your first set of vaccine shots, visit Vaccines.gov to find COVID-19 vaccine providers near you.
