Thanksgiving week is here, and there’s a good chance your plans for the food-focused holiday are already in place. But if your plans to get the updated COVID-19 vaccine well before the holiday fell through, you may be wondering if it’s too late to get the shot before getting together with family and friends. Should you even bother?
Health officials have advised people to get the updated COVID-19 vaccine ahead of the holidays — at least two weeks before. However, if you’ve missed that deadline, it might still be beneficial to get the jab before you head off to your gatherings ― for multiple reasons.
For starters, there was a worldwide surge in COVID infections this past summer, and some health experts predicted that there might be another wave in the fall and winter months.
“The fall and winter months typically see a higher rate of respiratory viruses like [COVID-19] and influenza, as people are indoors and respiratory viruses like [COVID-19] seem to be able to survive or persist in the cooler temperatures, lower rates of humidity allow for the virus to be spread further,” Dr. Matthew Binnicker, the director of clinical virology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, previously told HuffPost.
And last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report estimating that COVID-19 infections were growing, or likely growing, in eight states across the country.
Additionally, a majority of people in the U.S. may be feeling less and less inclined to get vaccinated. An October Pew Research Center survey found that 60% of Americans say they probably won’t get an updated 2024-25 COVID-19 vaccine. That means there may be a lot of people who are less protected from newer COVID variants this season.
All of those factors are reason enough to consider still getting the shot. But there’s a lot of important information to keep in mind when it comes to the updated vaccines, surges in infections and the constantly changing SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19. So if you’re still deciding whether or not it’s worth it to get the vaccine days before Thanksgiving, here’s what to know.
The most recent shot targets variants that have been infecting people this year.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved three 2024-25 COVID-19 vaccines in August: the vaccines by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, and the Novavax vaccine.
The updated COVID vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer target the KP.2 variant, which is one of several variants referred to as “FLiRT variants” that began spreading across the U.S. in the spring. The Novavax vaccine targets the JN.1 variant, which is the parent variant to the KP.2 strain. JN.1 was first detected in the U.S. in September 2023, according to the CDC.
The CDC recommends that everyone ages 6 months and older receive an updated 2024-25 COVID-19.
The Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are authorized for use from 6 months of age, but Novax is only authorized for people ages 12 and over.
Typically, it takes the vaccine two weeks to kick in, but it’ll last you a while after that.
Dr. David Wohl, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of North Carolina’s School of Medicine, previously told HuffPost that “it can take a good two weeks to get the full effect of the vaccine.”
So ideally, you would’ve gotten the updated COVID-19 vaccine by at least Nov. 14 this year to reap its full benefits before the Thanksgiving holiday.
But research also suggests that the shot’s effectiveness lasts for months after you receive it. The vaccines are most effective during the first three months post-vaccination, according to John Hopkins Medicine. And CDC data from early this year found that people who had received an updated COVID-19 vaccine were 54% less likely to get the disease during a four-month period after getting the shot in September 2023.
You should still get an updated COVID-19 vaccine, even if it’s a few days before Thanksgiving.
While you won’t get the full effectiveness of the vaccine in time for Thanksgiving, you can still benefit from getting vaccinated now.
Jennifer B. Nuzzo, professor of epidemiology and director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University School of Public Health, pointed out that getting the COVID-19 vaccination now “will likely provide extra protection during the end of December holidays.”
“The only downside I can think of to getting boosted now is if you typically experience normal but unpleasant symptoms after getting vaccinated, it could dampen your Thanksgiving cheer,” she told HuffPost. “But otherwise, I’d say you might as well get it done.”
“This is, of course, assuming you haven’t already had COVID this fall. If you did, then there’s probably [a] benefit to waiting three more months,” she added. (The CDC recommends waiting about three months after you had COVID-19 before getting vaccinated.)
Dr. Onyema Ogbuagu, a Yale Medicine infectious diseases physician and associate professor at Yale School of Medicine, also told HuffPost that while it’s “a bit too late at this point to benefit from full protection for the upcoming Thanksgiving period,” there is “no harm with getting the vaccine, as [the] post-Thanksgiving period still matters as we are in respiratory viral season.”
Ogbuagu emphasized that he feels particularly strongly that people ages 65 and older, as well as people with moderate to severe immunocompromising conditions, receive the updated COVID-19 vaccine, “as they stand the most to lose if they don’t and most to benefit if they do.”
Dr. Amesh A. Adalja, a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, also acknowledged that the immune system takes “some time” to develop high enough antibody levels to prevent infection after a person gets a COVID-19 shot, but recommends that individuals who are considered high-risk get the vaccine “as soon as possible” regardless, he told HuffPost.
You should also try to take some other healthy precautions.
Adalja said his recommendations for avoiding COVID depend on an individual’s risk factors for severe disease.
“COVID is an endemic respiratory virus, and it will be with us this Thanksgiving and future [Thanksgivings],” he said. “We have many tools to limit its impact, including home tests, antivirals, and updated vaccines.”
Ogbuagu added that while he knows “everyone is fatigued with masking,” it’s important that healthy people and younger adults who are sick stay away from vulnerable groups such as elderly people, people who are immunocompromised or those with underlying conditions like lung disease or asthma.
He recommended that people in the vulnerable category consider masking in “congregate settings” (like a Thanksgiving gathering in someone’s home). But he warned that masking without also including other protective measures, such as hand-washing or not eating in a closed and crowded space, would provide “limited benefit.”
“The most important thing you and your loved ones can do is stay home if you aren’t feeling well,” Nuzzo said. “To reduce your likelihood of picking up an infection en route, you may want to wear a mask when traveling by crowded plane, train or other mass transit.”
“If a large crowd is gathering indoors, making sure the space is well-ventilated can reduce the likelihood of spreading illnesses,” she added.