The United States has likely entered a new phase in which receiving a COVID-19 vaccine is recommended annually, much like a flu shot, federal health officials said Tuesday.

That was the message from Biden administration officials during a COVID-19 news briefing, just days after the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed off on new Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus booster shots that target both the original 2019 strain as well as the omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.

The boosters represent the first updates to vaccines since the pandemic began in early 2020. 

“This makes us, the United States, the first nation with new vaccines that match the version of the omicron variant that is currently dominant — dominant both here in the U.S. and around the world,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator. “For the first time since December of 2020, these vaccines have caught up with the virus.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said the government began shipping millions of doses Friday and that, by the end of the week, more than 90% of Americans will live within five miles of a vaccination site that offers them. More information about where the boosters are available can be found at vaccines.gov.

And guidelines for COVID-19 vaccines are easier to follow. Anyone age 12 or older who has not been vaccinated in the past two months or infected by COVID-19 in the past few months should get an updated booster, the CDC says. Those being vaccinated for the first time will continue to receive the original shot. 

In saying that COVID protection might now warrant just one shot per year, officials did have a couple of caveats.

High-risk individuals — elderly people or those with certain underlying conditions — may still require additional shots, they said. And Jha cautioned about the possibility of “new variant curveballs.”

The previous vaccine versions were highly effective at preventing severe illness and death, but they waned over time and were less effective at preventing infections as the virus mutated. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, said data from the earlier version of the vaccine as well as clinical trials on a bivalent vaccine that targeted BA.1 point to the new shots offering “better protection against currently circulating strains than the original vaccines,” although, he added, “it is difficult to predict at this point how much better that protection will be.”

Nevertheless, Fauci said “receiving the recommended vaccine dose is critical to maintaining optimal protection against COVID-19, particularly for the elderly.”

There are no new safety concerns associated with the updated vaccines, he added.

While the virus is constantly evolving, Jha noted that if future mutations stem from the BA.5 subvariant, which is accounting for 89% of new infections in the U.S., “this updated vaccine will continue to have a very high degree of protection.”

COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have fallen in recent days, but the seven-day average for deaths is 375, which CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said is, “in my mind, far too high for a vaccine preventable disease.”

About two-thirds of Americans have received their primary vaccine dose, but less than half of those have been boosted.

Jha said it is “a good idea” for people to receive their flu shot and COVID booster in a single visit.

“I really believe this is why God gave us two arms — one for the flu shot and the other one for the COVID shot,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Human Services is ramping up efforts to reach out to people age 50 and older, especially heading into the Thanksgiving holiday, Becerra said.

Jha said the administration's goal is to ensure COVID-19 vaccines remain free this fall. The Biden administration, meanwhile, is asking Congress for $22.4 billion in emergency COVID-19 funding, which it says is needed to vaccinate and treat Americans, accelerate research and development of next-generation vaccines and therapeutics and support the global response. 

Jha said the FDA is working with manufacturers on updated primary vaccine shots as well as boosters for children younger than 12, but he did not have a timeline for when they might be available.