Frequently Asked Questions

Most people can get COVID-19 vaccines at no cost through their private health insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid plans. If you have private health insurance, check with your employer or insurance plan. Find a provider in your network before getting your COVID-19 vaccine to decrease or avoid out-of-pocket costs. If you do not currently have health insurance:

• Visit https://www.healthcare.gov to learn more about affordable health coverage options.
• Visit https://www.ssa.gov/medicare/sign-up for more information about Medicare eligibility.
• Contact your state Medicaid program to see if you qualify.

The vaccines are important to help protect you from severe illness, decrease your risk of requiring hospitalization, long covid, and potential death. COVID-19 vaccination helps protect you, your family and friends, and our community. For more information on COVID vaccines visit the Department of Health COVID-19 Vaccine website.

Like all vaccines, the COVID-19 vaccine does not instantly provide protection. It takes time for your immune system to respond to the vaccine and develop disease-fighting antibodies. To be fully protected, you must wait until after receiving your second dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has advised the U.S. COVID-19 vaccines for fall 2025 should be monovalent, JN.1-lineage–based (2025–2026 formula). This is the formulation being rolled out for the 2025–2026 season. The COVID-19 vaccines are updated to better protect against the most common strain of the virus.

The Public Health and Medical communities are confident that these vaccines are safe and effective. While the process to develop these vaccines may seem fast, they were built on years of thorough research and application addressing other types of coronaviruses. All the necessary steps and safety measures were followed during the development of the vaccines, and every study, every phase, and every trial was reviewed by the FDA and safety boards of medical experts. The speed of development was due to the sharing of research and massive collaboration on a scale never attempted before.

If you are sick, stay home and away from others (including people you live with who are not sick) if you have respiratory virus symptoms that aren't better explained by another cause. You can go back to your normal activities when, for at least 24 hours, both are true:

• Your symptoms are getting better overall, and
• You have not had a fever (and are not using fever-reducing medication).

See how to prevent respiratory illnesses for more information.

Like with all vaccines, there is a chance you may experience some symptoms as your body builds an immune response. Potential side effects may include pain, soreness or swelling at the injection site on the arm, fatigue, fever, or headache. These are signs the vaccine is working and your immune system is responding to the vaccine and learning how to fight off the virus. Mild pain relievers should help you feel better, but should not be taken before you feel symptoms or before you get the vaccine. If you don't feel better within two or three days you should follow up with your doctor.

If you experience other COVID-19 symptoms, such as congestion, cough, shortness of breath, runny nose, sore throat or loss of taste and smell, they are not related to receiving the vaccine and could mean you have COVID-19. You should consult your healthcare provider and get tested. The vaccine does not cause COVID-19 and contains no ingredients that could cause COVID-19, but you could have already been exposed to COVID-19 before receiving your vaccine or before you were protected.

COVID-19 Vaccine | Department of Health