COVID-19 Vaccine Talking Points for Communicating With Older Adults

Building vaccine awareness, confidence, and education among older adults

Most adults 65 and older in the United States have gotten a COVID vaccine. But many may not understand their risk for severe illness, the importance of an updated COVID vaccine, and when to get one.

Organizations can use these talking points to increase vaccine education and confidence with their audiences.

Start from a place of empathy and understanding

The pandemic has been stressful for everyone, especially older adults.

The first step is to acknowledge the disruption COVID has caused on all our lives and provide a space to recognize common concerns that can be addressed by getting all recommended COVID vaccine doses.

Empowering the older adult community

Empower older adults by helping them feel confident in their decision to get vaccinated, stay up to date with their vaccine, and to recommend getting vaccinated to their friends and family. This is the element that is most important for your discussions.

Empowering tactics include:

• Engaging national older adult–centric associations, health systems, health care personnel, local community organizations, and churches early and often to ensure a clear understanding of the vaccine development and approval process, new vaccine technologies, and the benefits of vaccination.
• Using your platform to have empathetic vaccine conversations, address myths and common questions, and provide tailored vaccine information to the older adult community.

It’s important for older adults to get all recommended COVID vaccine doses.

CDC recommends people 65 and older stay up to date with their COVID vaccine because they are at high risk of hospitalization, illness, and death from COVID. Staying up to date includes getting an updated COVID vaccine.

Getting vaccinated

You have three ways to find vaccines near you:

• Go to vaccines.gov
• Text your ZIP code to 438829
• Call 1-800-232-0233

Side effects from the COVID-19 vaccines

Possible side effects include:

• Soreness or swelling on the arm where you receive the shot
• Fever
• Chills
• Feeling tired
• Headache

Side effects are usually mild and should last at most a few days.

Safety

The COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States meet the FDA’s rigorous standards for safety and effectiveness. Most adults in the United States have gotten a COVID vaccine, and all COVID vaccines will continue to be monitored for safety.

Serious health effects from vaccines are very rare. It’s highly unlikely that COVID-19 vaccines will cause long-term health problems.

Your risk for serious health problems is much lower from the vaccine than your risk if you’re unvaccinated and get COVID-19. COVID-19 can leave you with heart and lung damage and other conditions that require long-term treatment. Vaccines are much safer paths to immunity than the disease itself.

Effectiveness

All available COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalization, and death due to COVID-19.

To get the most protection from the vaccines, you need all the recommended doses for people your age.

Vaccinated people should get an updated vaccine when eligible to help protect against Omicron—especially people 50 and older, who are at increased risk for severe illness from COVID.

Get your updated COVID vaccine now if your last dose was before September 2022.

Otherwise, wait until 2 months after you complete your primary vaccination series to get your updated vaccine dose. Completing your primary vaccination series means you got your first 2 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, or Novavax vaccine, or your 1 dose of Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine.

If you recently had COVID, you should wait 3 months from when you got sick to get your updated vaccine.

Adults can get either Pfizer-BioNTech’s or Moderna’s updated COVID vaccine; it doesn’t matter which COVID vaccine you got previously—Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Novavax, Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen.

Novavax offers a booster dose of its COVID vaccine, but it doesn’t target Omicron. People 18 and older can get the extra Novavax dose if they’ve completed their primary vaccination series.

People with compromised immune systems are less able to fight infections and may need additional vaccine doses.

How the available COVID-19 vaccines work

There are different kinds of vaccines available for use in the United States to protect you from the virus that causes COVID: mRNA (which stands for messenger ribonucleic acid), viral vector, and protein subunit vaccines.

These different COVID vaccines essentially do the same thing:

• They either directly introduce your immune system to the spike protein found on the surface of the coronavirus or give your cells the instructions to make the spike protein.
• The presence of these proteins in your body resembles an infection and triggers your immune system.
• In the process, your immune system learns how to recognize and attack the virus without ever being exposed to the virus itself.

None of the COVID vaccines change or interact with your DNA in any way.

Once you’re up to date with your COVID vaccines 

To maximize protection from highly contagious variants and prevent possibly spreading COVID to others, both vaccinated and unvaccinated people should wear a mask inside public places when the COVID risk to your community is high.

If you’re at higher risk of getting very sick from COVID, you can also protect yourself by:

• Keeping at least 6 feet away from people who don’t live with you.
• Avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated spaces.
• Washing your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or using hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol if you don’t have soap and water.

Vaccinated and unvaccinated people must still follow state, local, tribal, and territorial laws, rules, and regulations. That includes public transportation, airport/airplane, local business, and workplace guidance. CDC recommends that everyone 2 and older wear a mask on public transportation and while in airports and stations.

People with compromised immune systems need extra doses of a COVID-19 vaccine

 People with compromised immune systems are less able to fight infections. If any of the following apply to you, you may need additional vaccine doses:

• You have a moderate or severe primary immunodeficiency disorder, such as DiGeorge syndrome or Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome.
• You have an advanced or untreated HIV infection.
• You’ve ever had an organ transplant or had a stem cell transplant within the last 2 years.
• You’re being treated with corticosteroids or other immunosuppressant medicines for such conditions as arthritis, asthma, or an autoimmune disease, such as lupus, sarcoidosis, inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriasis.
• You’re being treated for cancer.

You should also continue to follow current COVID-19 prevention measures until your health care provider says it’s safe for you to stop:

• Wear a mask that covers your nose and mouth around people you don’t live with and when inside public places.
• Stay at least 6 feet apart from people you don’t live with.
• Avoid crowds and poorly ventilated indoor spaces.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or use hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol when soap and water aren’t available.

Strategies for building COVID-19 vaccine confidence among older adults

Encourage people who have been vaccinated to be vaccine champions by sharing testimonials about why they got vaccinated and promoting their stories.

Host online discussions where your audience can provide input and ask questions.

Don’t shy away from the tough questions and conversations. This makes you aware of the pulse of the community and how you should tailor your messaging.

Share key messages through emails, newsletters, social media posts, and other channels.

Provide information and resources to health care facilities with older adult–targeted messaging about COVID-19 vaccines, how they’re developed and monitored for safety, and how health care staff can speak specifically to older adults about the vaccines.

Use the tools available

There are a number of materials like toolkits that include posters, fact sheets, infographics, and social media content on the CDC website that you can use to increase confidence in your clinic or facility.

For more information and to view the toolkits, visit cdc.gov/coronavirus.