evidence: The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are a type known as an mRNA vaccine. (Read more about COVID-19 vaccine types.) For people ages 12 and older who are unable to get an updated mRNA vaccine, or choose not to, another type of vaccine, made by the biotech company Novavax, is available. The Novavax product is a protein subunit vaccine. Two doses are recommended three weeks apart if you haven’t been vaccinated for COVID-19 before. [...] According to the FDA, which authorized the newest COVID-19 vaccines, children between ages 5 and 11 should get a single dose of Pfizer or Moderna’s 2023-2024 formulation. People 12 and older who are not vaccinated should get either a single dose of Pfizer or Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, or two doses of the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine. [...] The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are a type called a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine. Novavax’s is a protein-based (or protein-subunit) vaccine. All these vaccines teach the body how to fight the virus that causes COVID-19 without you actually having to get the illness. None of the vaccines causes the illness — there is no live virus in any of the vaccines.