Yes, there are several vaccines for COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Multiple vaccines are approved for use in the United States for people as young as six months old, and they are updated annually to match circulating virus strains, similar to the flu shot.
Which Vaccines Are Currently Available
As of the 2025–2026 season, four COVID-19 vaccines are approved in the United States: Moderna’s Spikevax, Moderna’s mNexspike, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and the Novavax vaccine. The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines use mRNA technology, which teaches your cells to produce a small piece of the virus’s spike protein so your immune system learns to recognize and fight it. Novavax takes a different approach, using a lab-made version of the spike protein paired with an ingredient that strengthens the immune response.
All four options are available for adults and adolescents aged 12 and older. Children aged 5 to 11 can receive either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine. For the youngest group, children 6 months through 4 years, only Moderna’s Spikevax is currently approved.
How the Vaccine Formula Is Updated
COVID-19 vaccines are reformulated regularly to keep pace with the virus as it mutates. For the fall 2025 season, the FDA advised manufacturers to use a formula based on the JN.1 lineage of the virus, preferentially using a strain called LP.8.1. This mirrors how flu vaccines are updated each year: experts evaluate which strains are circulating and select the best match. The current vaccines are monovalent, meaning they target a single strain rather than multiple variants at once.
How Well the Vaccines Work
COVID-19 vaccines are most effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalization, and death. They offer less protection against mild infections or emergency room visits. CDC data from the 2024–2025 season found that the updated vaccine reduced COVID-related emergency department and urgent care visits by about 33% among adults 18 and older. Protection against hospitalization was stronger: 45–46% among adults 65 and older with healthy immune systems, and 40% among older adults with weakened immune systems.
These numbers may look modest compared to the 90%-plus efficacy reported during the original vaccine rollout, but context matters. The virus has changed significantly since 2020, and most people now carry some baseline immunity from prior infections or vaccinations. The vaccines continue to perform better against the most dangerous outcomes. CDC researchers noted that effectiveness against critical illness (ICU admission, ventilation, or death) has historically been higher and longer-lasting than effectiveness against milder outcomes, though hospitalization rates during the study period were too low to calculate those specific numbers.
How Long Protection Lasts
Vaccine protection fades over time. Studies of the 2024–2025 vaccine showed measurable effectiveness within the first 7 to 119 days after vaccination, but immunity wanes beyond that window. This is the primary reason health authorities recommend an annual dose rather than treating the original vaccination series as permanent protection. The virus’s constant evolution also erodes the match between your antibodies and the circulating strains, compounding the decline.
Common Side Effects
Most side effects from COVID-19 vaccines are mild and short-lived. The most common is pain and swelling at the injection site. Other typical reactions include fever or chills, headache, muscle or joint pain, fatigue, upset stomach, and swollen lymph nodes. These generally resolve within a day or two and are signs that your immune system is responding to the vaccine.
Rare but more serious side effects include myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) and pericarditis (inflammation of the lining around the heart). These have been reported with all COVID-19 vaccines used in the U.S. and occur most often in males aged 12 to 39, typically within one week of the second dose. The risk is considered rare, and most cases resolve with treatment.
Cost and Access
If you have private insurance, COVID-19 vaccines are generally covered at no cost to you. For children whose families may not be able to afford vaccines, the CDC’s Vaccines for Children program provides them at no charge. Availability and out-of-pocket costs for uninsured adults can vary, so checking with your local pharmacy or health department is the most reliable way to confirm pricing in your area.
What About Other Coronaviruses
SARS-CoV-2 is not the only coronavirus that has caused serious disease in humans. Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), caused by a related coronavirus, has had a much higher fatality rate but far fewer cases. No MERS vaccine has been licensed for human use. Several candidates using different vaccine technologies have reached early-stage clinical trials, but most remain in preclinical development.
The four common cold coronaviruses that circulate every year have no vaccines either, largely because the illnesses they cause are mild enough that the investment has never been prioritized.
Nasal Spray Vaccines
One limitation of current COVID-19 vaccines is that they are injected into muscle, which builds strong immune defenses in the bloodstream but does not reliably create immunity in the nose and airways where the virus first enters the body. Nasal spray vaccines aim to solve this problem by triggering immune responses directly in the respiratory tract, potentially blocking infection and transmission rather than just preventing severe disease.
In animal studies, mucosal vaccines have significantly reduced viral replication and transmission. However, progress in humans has been slower. Only five mucosal COVID-19 vaccines have received approval anywhere in the world, and none are currently available in the United States. Robust human data on whether they actually block infection and transmission is still limited.
Universal Coronavirus Vaccines
Researchers are also working on vaccines designed to protect against not just current SARS-CoV-2 variants but an entire family of related coronaviruses, including potential future pandemic strains. These “pan-coronavirus” vaccines target parts of the virus that stay relatively constant across different strains, such as the stem region of the spike protein.
Early results are encouraging. A Phase 1 trial of 29 participants tested a vaccine called SpFN/ALFQ and found it generated immune responses against multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants and related coronaviruses after just two doses, with a third dose boosting those responses further. The vaccine produced neutralizing activity against both Omicron subvariants and more distantly related coronaviruses, providing the first proof in humans that broad cross-coronavirus immunity is achievable. These vaccines remain in early trial phases, with no timeline for widespread availability.