COVID-19 vaccines are now available in the Bay Area, just in time for the West Coast’s summertime wave of cases.

While the Trump administration continues to cast doubt on the safety and efficacy of vaccines — contrary to the guidance of medical associations — the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved updated COVID-19 vaccines that provide better protection against the dominant strain of the virus. This year, the FDA signed off on fresh Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax vaccines.

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For the last few years, the agency has approved new jabs designed to better prevent serious cases, hospitalizations and deaths from the virus as it mutates. The most recent major variation was in early 2025, which gave birth to a strain scientists have named XFG or Stratus. Last month, positive tests for the virus in the Bay Area hit moderate levels, slightly more than 9%, according to state data.

It’s the best way to reduce the risk of a serious case of COVID-19, and it’s safe. That’s according to public health agencies, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the California Department of Public Health and local, county-level agencies.

“It makes you feel less sick from COVID,” said Dr. Ravi Waldron, chief of infectious diseases at Kaiser Permanente’s San Jose Medical Center. “The COVID vaccine is effective for children and adults.”

The Trump administration created widespread confusion in the Bay Area last year when it relaxed its recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines. This year is simpler.

The American Medical Association and other leading medical organizations recommend that healthy adults and those with compromised immune systems get an updated booster shot annually. People 65 and older should receive an annual dose, plus a booster every six months to keep protection. Children between 6 months and 23 months old should get the shot, as well. Older children can get vaccinated “if desired,” the medical groups say.

The California Department of Public Health’s recommendations track closely with the medical groups.

Most people get their shots at pharmacies. The big chains — Walgreens, Safeway and CVS — already have them available, spokespersons told this new organization.

Kaiser Permanente, the region’s largest hospital network, expects to start offering the COVID-19 vaccine the week of Sept. 14, when its seasonal flu vaccine clinics open, spokesperson Antonia Ehlers wrote in an email.

You should wait three months since your last booster shot, or four months since your last infection, wrote Matt Willis, the former longtime public health officer for Marin County, in a newsletter this week. At those points, your immunity begins to wane.

Because COVID-19 is spreading throughout the Bay Area, Willis recommended getting vaccinated now.

Little or nothing if you have health insurance at the pharmacies and Kaiser clinics. AHIP, a national trade group for health plans, said insurance companies will continue covering immunizations without cost-sharing through the end of 2027, based on scientific evidence on the effectiveness of the vaccine.

“The evidence-based approach to coverage of immunizations will remain consistent,” the trade group wrote in its statement.

Flu shots are also available at Safeway, CVS and Walgreens, and will be at Kaiser clinics starting next week. The medical associations recommend an annual flu shot for everyone older than six months.

Levels of influenza strains — the seasonal respiratory viruses known as the flu — haven’t begun to tick up yet in tests of wastewater in Santa Clara County. Flu season typically peaks between December and February, the CDC says. Willis wrote that October is “generally the sweet spot for vaccination.”