Across the Greater Peninsula, your local health district is working hard to distribute the COVID-19 vaccines in an equitable and timely fashion. If you have questions about the safety, efficacy, or timing of the vaccines, please contact the health district in which you live and work. Whether you are in Hampton, Newport News, Williamsburg, James City County, Poquoson, or York County, we can connect you to the resources you need to make an informed decision about vaccination.
Updated recommendations for bivalent mRNA COVID-19 vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna)*
| COVID-19 Vaccination Status | General population aged 6 years or older | Children aged 6 months to 5 years | Older adults (aged 65 years or older) | People aged 6 months or older who have a weakened immune system |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Has not yet received any dose | Recommended to get 1 dose of a bivalent vaccine. | Recommended to get a bivalent vaccine. For Moderna: 2 doses. For Pfizer: 1 dose if aged 5 years; 3 doses if aged 6 months to 4 years. | Recommended to get 2 doses of a bivalent vaccine, separated by at least 4 months. | Recommended to get at least 2 doses of a bivalent vaccine, separated by at least 1–2 months, depending on age and vaccine type. Additional doses may be determined by the healthcare provider. |
| Has received at least 1 vaccine dose | If received a bivalent vaccine dose, then an additional bivalent vaccine dose is not recommended. If have not received a bivalent vaccine dose, then recommended to get 1 dose of bivalent vaccine. | Recommended to get a bivalent vaccine dose; the number of doses depends on vaccine type and history. | If received a bivalent vaccine dose, then recommended to get 1 additional bivalent dose at least 4 months after initial bivalent dose. If have not received a bivalent vaccine dose, then recommended to get 2 doses of a bivalent vaccine separated by at least 4 months. | Recommended to get at least 2 doses of a bivalent vaccine, separated by at least 1–2 months, depending on age and vaccine type, and vaccine history. Additional doses may be determined by the healthcare provider. |
*These recommendations do not apply to Novavax and Janssen (J&J) COVID-19 vaccines, which are not bivalent mRNA vaccines. If you are unsure of the vaccines doses you previously received, check with your healthcare provider(s) who administered your vaccine(s), or you may find your vaccination record here.
FAQ
- Schedule an appointment online: To find an appointment, visit vaccinate.virginia.gov, call 877-VAX-IN-VA (877-829-4682), or text your zip code to GETVAX (438829) for English or VACUNA (822862) for Spanish. At vaccinate.virginia.gov, you can access the “Search by Location” feature which allows you to enter the street address where you usually live. You will then be provided options for making an appointment.
- Schedule an appointment with Hampton & Peninsula Health Districts: Call 757-594-7069, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET, to schedule a vaccine appointment, or visit vaccinate.virginia.gov, and select either Peninsula Health Center or Hampton Health Center.
- Call the VDH hotline: The call center is available Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m ET. There are Spanish and English-speaking agents, as well as additional language services in over 100 languages to assist those residents and workers who speak other languages. For individuals with access and functional needs, you can reach the call center via Virginia Relay, including by TTY, by dialing 7-1-1. ASL users have two ways to connect: by videophone at 1-877-VAX-IN-VA (1-877-829-4682) or by clicking the “ASL Now” button at vaccinate.virginia.gov.
We offer the following vaccines:
-
- Pfizer Bivalent Booster (all ages)
- Pfizer (ages 6 mos-4 yrs.) 1st and 2nd Dose
- Pfizer (ages 5-11 yrs.) 1st and 2nd Dose
- Moderna Bivalent Booster (all ages)
- Moderna (ages 6 mos-5 yrs.) 1st and 2nd
- Moderna (ages 6-11 yrs.) 1st and 2nd Dose
Everyone aged 6 years and older should get 1 bivalent Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to be considered up to date.
People aged 65 years and older may get a 2nd bivalent Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 dose.
People who are moderately or severely immunocompromised may get additional bivalent Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 doses.
Children aged 6 months–5 years may need multiple doses of COVID-19 vaccine to be up to date, including at least 1 bivalent dose of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, depending on their age and the number of doses they’ve previously received.
There is no maximum amount of time between doses for any of these vaccines, thus there is no need to restart the vaccine series if you past the recommended timeframe. However, do not get following doses earlier than the recommended date.
An 8-week interval between the first and second doses of bivalent Moderna, monovalent Novavax, and bivalent Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines might be better for some people as it might reduce the small risk of myocarditis and pericarditis associated with these COVID-19 vaccines. Under the current COVID-19 vaccination schedule, the extended interval applies only to children ages 6 months–5 years, depending on their vaccination history and which mRNA vaccine is administered, and people ages 12 years and older receiving Novavax vaccine.
While absolute risk remains small, an elevated risk for myocarditis and pericarditis has been observed among mRNA COVID-19 vaccine recipients, particularly in males ages 12–39 years.
If you or your child are immunocompromised, talk with your healthcare or vaccine provider about the COVID-19 vaccine timing that is right for you or your child.
Detailed information on COVID-19 vaccination recommendations is available on the CDC COVID-19 vaccination website.
To look for an appointment, check with your child’s healthcare provider to see if they are providing COVID-19 vaccines for this age group. Many healthcare providers have vaccines, but some do not. You can find other locations such as retail pharmacies, local health departments, and federally qualified health centers at vaccinate.virginia.gov or call 877-VAX-IN-VA (877-829-4682).
Being “Up to Date” with COVID-19 vaccination provides the best available medical protection against COVID-19 AND goes several steps beyond being fully vaccinated.
Being “fully vaccinated” is a now outdated term that means that:
- A person has received all recommended doses in their primary series for Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, Novavax, or Johnson & Johnson (also known as Janssen) COVID-19 vaccine,
- AND
- At least 14 days have passed since the last vaccine dose was received.
Being “fully vaccinated” does not include updated bivalent vaccines and will NOT provide as much COVID-19 protection as being “Up to Date”.
Visit the CDC website for more information about staying up to date on COVID-19 vaccines.
For airline travel to other countries, COVID-19 viral testing is sometimes required for pre-travel screening on international airline flights. Some countries may still be requiring proof of vaccination before allowing travelers to enter certain facilities (e.g., restaurants). Before ANY travel to other countries, you should check closely with both your airline and with the national COVID-19 testing and COVID-19 vaccination requirements of the country or countries that you will be visiting.
For airline travel from other countries to the United States, CDC no longer requires any arriving passengers, including U.S. citizens. to show any proof of a negative COVID-19 viral PCR or antigen test.
For cruise ship travel, CDC recommends that you make sure you are up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines before travel.
For additional information, please visit the VDH’s Travelers FAQs or the CDC International Travelers’ web page.
COVID-19 vaccination records in the Virginia Immunization Information Systems (VIIS) are available through the COVID-19 Vaccination Record Request Portal.
This portal can be used to obtain a record of your COVID-19 vaccinations if you have misplaced the vaccine card you received at a vaccination clinic; if your vaccine doses were written on different cards; or if you would like to give a copy of your record to someone else.
Enter your name, date of birth, and ZIP code. If there is a match, the system will send a verification code to the phone number associated with your vaccination record, through either a text message or an automated voice call. This prevents other people from accessing your record. Once you enter the verification code, you can view, save, and print your Vaccination Record with QR (short for “Quick Response”) code. With iOS 15 or 16, you can securely store verifiable versions of your COVID-19 test results and immunization records in the Health app on your iPhone or iPod touch.
No. Ending the public health emergency declaration does not mean that COVID-19 is gone or that the pandemic is over. It simply means that the federal government is ending its COVID-19 emergency declaration. CDC and VDH will continue to have active responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the World Health Organization, the COVID-19 pandemic is not over.
Because COVID-19 continues to be present, it is important to:
· Stay up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines
· Get tested if you have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 or have symptoms of the illness, and
· Stay home if you are sick with COVID-19 and get treated as soon as possible if you are at high-risk for severe COVID-19.