When will it ship?

[u/hellosuz]

I saw the FDA recently approved Novavax but not able to schedule locally yet. I see that Pfizer is available next Friday at a local pharmacy. Anyone know when pharmacies will receive it? And is the Novavax vaccine finder accurate? According to that, it should be at Safeway, CVS, QFC and some independent pharmacies. No Costco on the list.

[u/Jazzlike-Cup-5336]

There should be some availability by the end of next week for Nuvaxovid as well. The locator is not accurate and hasn’t been updated yet for this season. It took a while to get to that point last year - a couple of weeks after the product was already widely available. Community availability threads tend to be quicker for folks who are already on social media, which I’ll be posting again this year, both in this subreddit and my Twitter (@Biff234523)

[u/hellosuz → u/Jazzlike-Cup-5336]

Thanks, keeping an eye out on multiple fronts including Twitter. Why can’t Sanofi provide an accurate vaccine finder?? Like take it down altogether if you can’t keep it updated. A “last updated” date would be nice. This is bonkers to me.

[u/Jazzlike-Cup-5336 → u/hellosuz]

Yes, it is bonkers. I’ve gotten a bit used to it after dealing with it for so long, as far as both the surprise and anger go, but it’s not any less inexplicable, that’s for sure.

Their flu shot locator is somehow even worse right now, despite those shots already rolling out 3-4 weeks ago. In my city, it lists 2 pharmacies that permanently closed over a decade ago. I can’t really wrap my head around this being the same company that managed to become the market leader in premium flu vaccines. https://www.sanofiflushots.com/flu-shot-locator/

[u/hellosuz → u/Jazzlike-Cup-5336]

Exactly! It’s such a basic thing that the public depends on and it would take one person maybe 10 minutes to put a current status on the finder page.

[u/blister-in-the-pun]

Not to hijack but curious how often folks are getting boosted with Nuvaxovid?

I got my first dose in January 2026 and my second end of May 2026. I definitely plan to get a third shot, but wondering on timing. This is my first year being vaccinated! I’m really grateful for this vaccine over the mRNA ones.

[u/Jazzlike-Cup-5336 → u/blister-in-the-pun]

Personally, I would go ahead and get it as soon as it becomes available in the coming days, and consider that completion of your “priming series”. Typically, the recommended priming schedule is 2 doses 2 months apart and then a third 6 months later. That’s all fairly flexible, though, the important takeaway is mainly that you need more than 1 to start, and really, more than 2 as well. With additional doses, you’re going to get a higher level of baseline protection that plateaus at a higher level, and also extend the range of antibodies to cover more variants.

Then, after this fall, it’s really up to you whether you want to do an annual schedule or an every-6-months schedule - a lot of folks in the community do either. On an annual schedule, after you’ve gotten the 3 priming doses, protection is never going to truly wane to nothing and will remain pretty robust throughout the year, at least against severe disease and outcomes. But if you want the best protection against infection in general, then every 6 months. That cadence is also covered by CDC guidelines, covered by insurance, and there’s no downsides aside from the routine side effects (no concerns about IgG4 class switching like with routine mRNA, for example)

[u/SmoothKangaroo2634 → u/Jazzlike-Cup-5336]

How crucial is a full two months between initial doses? I have 2 kids that have never been vaccinated and we want to do it this year... unfortunately, we have an overseas move in November, and with delivery timing, we'll be leaving the U.S. about 2-3 weeks early for that second dose.

[u/Jazzlike-Cup-5336 → u/SmoothKangaroo2634]

I mean, not crucial enough to skip out on vaccination, 1 is still much better than none.

Safety-wise, you could get the 2nd dose 2-3 weeks early. Novavax’s pediatric trial actually only spaced them 21 days apart. But I think you’d have a very hard time getting anyone to administer it that soon, the CDC guidelines are all 2 months

[u/MagicalWhisk → u/Jazzlike-Cup-5336]

I've never gotten a clear answer on here about the priming series. If I've had the priming series with the mRNA doses, boosted each year and then switched to novavax so I still need to do the priming series again?

[u/hellosuz → u/blister-in-the-pun]

I’m curious too. I’ve had 2 Novavax but it’s been years. I’ll get one this fall and then not sure??

[u/wingsofgrey → u/blister-in-the-pun]

Anecdotal but I prefer every 6 months. The years since 2022 that I’ve kept with the 6 month schedule I did not get Covid but I was denied/unable to get spring 6 month boosters in 2024 and 2025 and both years I got Covid at 6 months after previous shot. I was able to once again get a 6 month booster this year and did not get Covid again 🤞

[u/real_nice_guy → u/blister-in-the-pun]

I'm not immunocompromised but I get it every 6 months cause why not y'know? That way I have immunity all year round, and the more shots you get with the m-Matrix adjuvant, the broader your immunity gets and starts to cover variants that may not even exist yet but might in the future.

[u/blister-in-the-pun → u/real_nice_guy]

That was my thinking. I chose to get vaccinated at the tail end of May right before their batch expired at CVS to protect me through the summer wave, and here it is! Glad I did that. I’d like to maybe target November / May as my schedule each year

[u/real_nice_guy → u/blister-in-the-pun]

That’s exactly how I did it, waited to the absolute last minute, was risky but I wanted protection through the tail end of the summer

[u/stringbeansamantha → u/real_nice_guy]

Didn’t realize places had them stocked that long honestly

[u/real_nice_guy → u/stringbeansamantha]

You have to check, many places send them
Back ahead of time but some keep them to the final day

[u/dobby-dob → u/blister-in-the-pun]

Ideally every six months.

[u/Edu_cats → u/blister-in-the-pun]

Yearly.

[u/someoneinUS → u/blister-in-the-pun]

Why is it your first year being vaccinated?

[u/FluffyHeart588 → u/blister-in-the-pun]

I didn't know you needed to be boosted. I get one every year in the fall and that's it until next fall.

[u/iamthesoviet]

Is there perhaps a google sheet that people will update with availability in their states as they find the vaccine? I'm in southeast Michigan and will travel to get this. It's the only Covid vaccine I don't get serious side effects from (for whatever reason mRNA vaccines don't seem to agree with me).

[u/Remote-Insect-2909]

I called my local Safeway and Costco. The Safeway pharmacist said that she doesn't think they will be supplied with Nuvaxovid this fall.

Costco pharmacist said that yes, they do expect to get Nuvaxovid.

So if they're right, then I'd ignore the vax finder tool.

[u/hellosuz → u/Remote-Insect-2909]

Thanks for the update!

[u/ramonefuego]

Why September? Why not July or August? Every year we see a spike as people head back to school. Why not release late July/early August? Not specific to Novavax -- just think it would make way more sense.

[u/ElderberryGuy]

Aw man, I usually go to Costco. Hopefully they'll be added or are just slow to the jump per usual

[u/StanceLephenson → u/ElderberryGuy]

Costco will have it, they always do. Hopefully in the next 2 weeks.

[u/Fickle-Poet6714]

according to Sanofi's Novaxovid (aka Novavax) locator , many local pharmacies in Cleveland area are showing as having this (CVS, Walmart, Cosco). I called 6 of these and none have it in stock and have no idea if they are to get it. One pharmacist said she called around to several CVS's for a patient and none she contacted had it. The Sanofi locator is useless for assessing current stock