The new COVID-19 vaccine booster will be made available in New York at doctors’ offices, pharmacies and other health care providers starting on Friday, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday. 

“In general, the recommendation is that all groups should strongly consider being vaccinated this fall," said University of Rochester Medical Center infectious disease specialist Dr. Edward Walsh.

He agrees with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s report stating that receiving the updated COVID-19 vaccine can help provide protection against new variants.

What You Need To Know

  • New COVID-19 vaccine boosters will be in doctors' offices and pharmacies by the end of the week, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday

  • URMC infectious disease specialist Dr. Edward Walsh agrees with the CDC’s report stating that receiving the updated COVID-19 vaccine can help provide protection against new variants

  • The CDC recommends the vaccine for people 6 months of age and older

"It is highly effective at inducing an immune response against the top circulating strains right now,” Walsh said. “And that includes, fortunately, this brand new one, which is known as B.2.86, which is just popping up and is a worry that it may spread because it has a lot of mutations very, very many more than previously had been seen in the virus. And yet the vaccines effectiveness against that is just fine. It isn't lost.” 

However, if you have recently had COVID, the advice may differ.

“Odds are if you've been infected with COVID in the last, through this summer, you've been infected with one of these XBB strains of the virus,” Walsh said. “And you, in fact, have sort of immunized yourself. And so I think a lot of people who've been infected in the last few months might justifiably say, ‘Well, I don't need the vaccine at this point because I've been immunized.’”

While the CDC recommends the vaccine for everyone 6 months and older, this time around the government is not covering the cost. 

“The federal government is not paying for this,” Walsh said. “Obviously, insurance companies will, based on the current recommendation by the FDA and then approved by the ACIP recommendation to the CDC to go ahead and do that. So, insurance companies are. It'd be very difficult it seems to me for them to not pay for this. Federal programs that cover people's health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, and so forth, they should also. There certainly may be some individuals who will have access issues with regard to the cost.”

The new vaccine will be available at pharmacies, health centers and some doctor offices. Locations will be listed on the government's vaccines.gov website. The list price of a dose of each shot is $120 to $130, according to the manufacturers.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.