CDC recommends COVID-19 vaccines for everyone 6 months and older

In a meeting on Tuesday, CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 13-1 to recommend the newest COVID-19 vaccines for all Americans ages 6 months and older.

Some advisors during the meeting expressed concerns over recommending the new vaccines to younger adults. However, others were worried that issuing a more narrow recommendation could undermine messaging regarding the need for those at highest risk from COVID-19 to get vaccinated.

Sharon Saydah, a researcher with CDC, told the panel that even among young and healthy people, COVID-19 poses a serious health risk, including the potential for long COVID. Saydah presented preliminary estimates from the 2022 National Health Interview Survey that showed the highest prevalence of post-COVID symptoms occurred among adults ages 35 to 49.

Pablo Sanchez, from Nationwide Children's Hospital and a pediatrics professor at The Ohio State University, was the lone dissenting vote on the panel and expressed concerns over a lack of data supporting the use of the newest vaccines in children.

"I would recommend it for the elderly, and for certain risk groups, including the immune-compromised, and during pregnancy. But I think we need to let the public know the data on children are not there," he said.

"I want to be clear, I am not against this vaccine," Sanchez added. "The limited data that are available do look great. I hesitate to make a universal recommendation even though I support vaccination."

Those who disagreed with Sanchez noted there has been extensive safety data on previous versions of mRNA shots in children, and argued that recommending the vaccine only to high-risk groups could worsen health disparities, as a more targeted recommendation could disincentivize people from getting their shot.

While CDC's recommendation only applies to the COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, Demetre Daskalakis, acting director of CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said the voting language was made to be "inclusive" for any vaccines authorized by FDA in the coming months.

When should you get your updated COVID shot? Can you get other shots at the same time?

If you're someone in a high-risk group and either haven't been vaccinated or been sick with COVID-19 within the past two months, you may want to get vaccinated as soon as possible, according to John Moore, an immunology expert at Weill Cornell Medical College.

If you're planning to travel this holiday season, it may make more sense to wait to get your shot until late October or November in order to maximize the time period in which protection is strongest, Moore added.

Similarly, Ashish Jha, former White House COVID-19 coordinator, said he generally recommends "to people who are elderly to wait until October, just so that they still have a lot more protection. You don't want to get to Halloween and not have taken it, but sometime in October is pretty reasonable."

It's also likely fine to get your COVID-19 shot and flu shot at the same time, as Jha said he did last year. "I got one in each arm," he said. "My arms were a little sore for 24 hours, but it was fine."

Jeremy Faust, an emergency physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in an op-ed for MedPage Today, said that getting your flu shot and COVID-19 shot at the same time "is safe, albeit with the possibility of somewhat higher rates of non-dangerous side effects" like body aches, fever, or fatigue.

While research has found that people who received the COVID-19 booster shot at the same time as their flu shot had notably lower COVID antibody levels than those who only received their booster shot, Faust noted that "both levels are way, way about any reasonable threshold for a 'good immune response.' So even if the finding was 'statistically real,' it probably does not matter in any clinical sense."

In addition, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) season usually starts in October. Experts say it's best for eligible individuals, which includes infants and adults ages 60 and older, to receive the vaccine as soon as possible for the most protection, but CDC guidance hasn't been shared yet about whether individuals should get the RSV vaccine alongside the other two shots. (Faust, MedPage Today, 9/12; Mandavilli, New York Times, 9/12; Allen, KFF Health News, 9/13; Fiore, MedPage Today, 9/12; Mast, STAT, 9/12; Onque, CNBC, 9/12)

Use this guide with internal and external stakeholders to develop a strong COVID-19 vaccine communication strategy that shares information, addresses patient concerns, and encourages uptake.