FDA Approves Updated COVID-19 Booster Shots to Protect Against New Variants

If you're hearing about more and more people you know contracting COVID, you're not alone.

Fact checked by Sarah Scott

It’s been a harrowing few years for parents when it comes to illness. First, we had to deal with the stress, fear, isolation, and exhaustion of the pandemic. Then last year, just as things started to get back to normal, we had one of the worst respiratory seasons on record, with back-to-back colds, RSV, flu—and of course, COVID-19.

That’s why many of us probably wanted to throw our phones across the room when we saw the headlines about an uptick in COVID cases and a few more COVID variants to add to the mix. And all of this right as schools get into full swing!  Can parents get a break around here?

Deep breaths, fellow parents. As stressful as these headlines seem, we’ve been here before, and we’ve got this. And there are new boosters out this fall to help us.

On September 11, 2023, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved updated mRNA vaccines for 2023-2024. The vaccines from both Pfizer and Moderna can help protect people from the latest circulating variants. They should be widely available shortly and are recommended for everyone over the age of 6 months

Parents caught up with two COVID experts to weigh in on the new variants. The good news? They don’t see this new wave as anything that will change the landscape too dramatically (i.e., we aren’t going to be back to lockdowns and masks).

Related: Here's Everything You Need to Know About COVID-19 in Kids

The Latest COVID Variants

There are two new variants currently on the scene. The first is EG.5, often referred to as “Eris.” As of August 19, it made up 20.6% of COVID cases in the U.S., per data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Eris is an off-shoot of XBB.1.9.2, which was the dominant circulating variant before it.

The WHO says that Eris has a growth advantage over XBB.1.9.2, which is why it’s probably becoming the dominant variant. It’s also showing signs of immune escape. Importantly, the WHO hasn’t seen any increase in severity among people infected with this variant.

Then there’s BA 2.86., a new variant that’s been detected in Denmark, Israel, and elsewhere. There have been at least two cases of it in the U.S., according to the CDC. It’s a heavily mutated variant, which could be a concern for how well vaccine and infection-based immunity will hold up against it. But there are no signs of it being more severe in terms of infection, the CDC notes.

Mark Kline, MD, the Physician-In-Chief at Children’s New Orleans and chief academic officer for LCMC Health, says what we are seeing with these two new variants is somewhat predictable, and there is no reason to panic.

“At this stage of the game, we can expect to see new variants of COVID arising from time to time,” he says. “Viruses mutate as they reproduce and those mutations occasionally can give the virus the ability to replicate or spread more efficiently, allowing it to become dominant and producing a new wave of infections.”

Parents can be assured that neither EG.5 nor BA.2.86 will likely cause more severe illness symptoms than previous variants, says Scott Roberts, MD, an assistant professor at Yale School of Medicine and associate medical director for infection prevention at Yale Medicine. “I anticipate these would be no different than recent COVID variants in terms of the impact on children,” Dr. Roberts assures.

Related: When Is It Safe To Be Around Someone Who Has Recovered From COVID?

Best Ways to Protect Children and Families This School Year

We’d all like COVID to be fully in the rearview mirror, but if the pandemic has shown us anything, it’s that COVID is really good at evolving and seems to be sticking around. While most children have mild cases of COVID, and as we saw in both the Delta and Omicron waves, sometimes children experience severe cases and require hospitalization. This is why the CDC recommends all children 6 months and up get vaccinated and stay up to date on their vaccines.

That includes the new booster shots from Moderna and Pfizer out this fall. The FDA is recommending anyone over the age of 5 should receive the updated vaccine, as long as it's been at least two months since their last dose. This is regardless of previous vaccination.

Children between the ages of 6 months and 4 years old who have previously gotten a COVID vaccine can get one or two doses of the updated shot. The number of doses and timing depend on which vaccine the child previously received, so you should check with your health care provider.

If your child is between 6 months and 4 years old and they haven't been vaccinated against COVID, they are eligible for three doses of the updated Pfizer vaccine or two doses of the updated Moderna vaccine.

The FDA says it's confident in both the safety and effectiveness of these new vaccines, adding that the benefit outweighs any associated risks. The updated shots are made to target the XBB.1.5 subvariant. Clinical studies showed it is also effective against EG.5 and BA.2.86, which are currently circulating.

Parents can also mitigate the risk of COVID to their children and families by taking a layered approach to prevention, Dr. Kline says. This may include selective use of masking and avoidance of crowded indoor gatherings, especially during COVID upticks.

Every family needs to do what’s best for them, based on their health needs and comfort levels. Whatever the case, we can all rest assured that even when COVID rears its ugly head, we have the tools to manage it, and unless something drastically different happens, we aren’t going back to 2020-like measures anytime soon.

Related: How Long Are Kids Contagious After a COVID-19 Infection?

The Impact of this Latest COVID Wave

For most parents, the concern with these new variants is how they might affect our kids in school this year. Will there be widespread illness? How will schools respond to potential outbreaks? Will our kids need to endure long isolation periods? Will schools be closed?

Dr. Roberts doesn’t see this wave causing dramatic changes or impacts on kids or their schools. That’s partly because this wave doesn’t seem to be impacting our healthcare system in the same way that previous COVID waves did. “Our hospitalization numbers are going up, but they remain far below that of prior waves,” he says. This matches CDC's data on hospitalizations that they began tracking as early as March, 2020.

Dr. Roberts says it’s possible that cases will rise even further this winter. If it’s a dramatic rise, schools may have to react. But even then, he doesn’t see anything like a lockdown or significant school closure on the horizon.

“We now know how impactful the loss of school was for children in the Spring of 2020, so I anticipate schools will do everything they can to keep children in the classroom provided this is done safely,” he says.

What does “safely” mean exactly? Dr. Roberts says we all have a role to play when it comes to emulating healthy behaviors. “This includes hand washing, staying home when sick, ensuring good ventilation in classrooms, staying up to date on vaccination, and masking when appropriate,” he describes.

Related: How to Make the COVID-19 Nose Swab Test Easier for Kids

What to Do If Your Child Has COVID Symptoms

COVID won’t be the only respiratory virus circulating among kids in school. Regardless of what your child has, you should keep them home when they first come down with a cold-like virus.

“If your child is experiencing typical symptoms of COVID (headache, sore throat, body aches, cough, possibly fever), don’t send them to school and expose other children and staff to the disease,” says Dr. Kline.

Experts still think it’s important that you test your child for COVID when they show signs of any type of virus. “In general I recommend testing if a child shows symptoms since there are differences in what can be done depending on which virus is causing the illness and the isolation periods for viruses differ,” Dr. Roberts suggests.

What to do if your child tests positive? You should call your child’s school to report their positive result and to ask about isolation guidelines. Both Dr. Kline and Dr. Roberts recommend following the current CDC guidelines, which state that people who test positive stay home for five days and resume activities when they are symptom-free. After this, they should continue to wear a mask around others for an additional five days.

Related: Long COVID in Kids: What Happens When Coronavirus Symptoms Linger for Weeks or Months

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