Health officials say now is the time to plan COVID, flu and RSV vaccinations

With COVID-19 vaccines heading to local pharmacies soon, federal health officials from various agencies are offering a united message: now is the time to plan when you're going to get all the vaccines you need to stay safe this fall and winter.

"The updated vaccine closely matches the KP.3 family of viruses that continue to grow in dominance," said Mandy Cohen, the director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

She's urging Americans to get the COVID and flu shots together .

"Head to head, flu and COVID, in terms of what is hospitalizing more folks and what is killing more folks, COVID continues to be a more dangerous virus," she said.

Dangerous as in more contagious and deadly.

"Last year, about 20,000 people I believe, according to CDC statistics, in the U.S., died of flu," said Dr. Otto Yang, the associate chief of infectious diseases at the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "About 75,000 people died of COVID."

Major pharmacy retailers say shipments of the new, updated COVID vaccine are expected to arrive as early as this week with appointments starting the first week of September. Most Americans haven't received a COVID shot in the last one to two years.

"It's not vaccines that prevent disease, it's vaccinations. It's getting vaccines in arms," said Dr. Peter Marks, the director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) at the Food and Drug Administration.

The new version is approved for everyone six months and older. Along with COVID and flu, health officials are urging pregnant women, high-risk 60-to-74 year olds and everyone 75 and older to get an RSV vaccine.

"These recommendations are for folks who did not already get an RSV vaccine last year," said Cohen. "Use the tools we have, vaccines, testing and treatment."

Long COVID remains a key focus for health officials, and another important reason to get the new shot.

"Those who are vaccinated, whether it's one vaccine, two vaccines or three vaccines, have a lower risk of long COVID," Marks said.

The FDA says you can get the updated vaccine at least two months after your last shot.

If you recently tested COVID positive, the CDC says wait three months after having COVID to get the updated version.

And for the third year in a row, the government is planning to relaunch its covidtests.gov website at the end of September, offering up to four free tests for every household.