CDC may move to risk-based COVID-19 vaccine strategy

A majority of the COVID-19 vaccine work group members at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention support ending the agency’s recommendation for nearly all Americans to get vaccinated each year against the virus. Instead, the work group may issue guidance based on a person’s individual risk of more severe disease. For example, the CDC could recommend older Americans and people with underlying health conditions get two doses every year. Officials support permissive language to enable those who want to receive an annual COVID-19 vaccine to do so. The CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will formally vote on the risk-based guidance in June. Separately, Health and Human Services Department Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is considering removing the COVID-19 shot from the CDC vaccine schedule for children. (CBS News article, 4/15/25)