Here’s What Experts Recommend About COVID Vaccines For The Fall
RFK Jr. and his CDC are muddying the waters, but here’s what doctors and data say you should do.
Since COVID-19 vaccines became widely available, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended that everyone aged 6 months and older receive an updated vaccine each year, similar to the flu shot. This recommendation was supported by every major medical authority, from the American Academy of Pediatrics to the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and many more.
However, in May, with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. leading the Department of Health and Human Services, government agencies switched course and changed those recommendations, stating that only adults older than 65 and those with at least one condition that puts them at risk for severe COVID-19 should get an annual shot. He also indicated that the CDC would take COVID-19 vaccines off the schedule for healthy children and pregnant individuals, as The New York Times reported. But if you are taking this administration’s health advice with a grain of salt, you’re probably wondering about the COVID-19 vaccine guidelines for 2025, according to actual scientists and medical experts.
For context, the shifting and increasingly murky vaccine guidelines come at a time when the new “Nimbus” COVID variant is beginning to spread across the U.S. It is believed to be more transmissible than past variants and comes with a new, formidably named symptom: “razor blade throat.” Those Nerdy Girls, a free news hub staffed by scientists to dispel health misinformation, aggregated all the 2025 COVID vaccine recommendations from actual health experts in a recent report. Here’s what the experts and data advise.
COVID Vaccine Recommendations 2025
For healthy adults aged 18 to 64, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has maintained its position that annual COVID-19 vaccinations are crucial for both your personal health and that of the public. Also, past reports from the CDC shared data showing that boosters “gave improved protection from emergency and urgent care visits for all adults compared to those who did not receive a booster,” says Cindy Leifer, professor of microbiology and immunology at Cornell University and author of the Those Nerdy Girls report. So, if vaccine experts had their way, you’d still get your annual re-up.
The previous CDC recommendations said you should receive your initial vaccine series and an updated annual shot each year. The new recommendations suggest that annual shots are not necessary. And because the CDC has removed them from the vaccine schedule, if you find a vax at a pharmacy or doctor’s office near you, be aware that your insurance may not cover it as it has in years past, Leifer notes. Individuals with underlying medical conditions should consult the CDC’s list of conditions that can lead to severe COVID-19 complications and check with their doctor about vaccine access and insurance coverage options.
For adults over age 65, the recommendations haven’t changed: Get your initial COVID vaccine series if you haven’t, and get your yearly shot when your doctor advises it, Leifer says.
For children 6 months to 17 years old, HHS leaders said in May that “parents should consult with their child’s pediatric provider in a ‘shared clinical decision making’ process to determine if a child should receive an initial COVID vaccine or any boosters,” Leifer says. The CDC’s website now promotes this approach, while also laying out the recommended vaccine schedule below it — which can be confusing.
The AAP vehemently disagrees with Kennedy and supported keeping COVID vaccines on the childhood vaccination schedule, which the CDC has done for this year. So, insurance will still cover an updated vaccine for your kids, and pediatricians think they should get it. In her report, Leifer points out that children are at risk for “severe disease” from COVID-19, and that those who are vaccinated also stand a better chance of dodging long COVID, which can cause a wide array of symptoms in children.
For pregnant people, COVID vaccine recommendations can feel especially confusing. The CDC’s new guidance is that expectant parents do not need the shot, but pregnancy is actually still listed as one of the underlying conditions that can lead to severe complications from COVID on the agency’s website — meaning they should get an annual shot. Make it make sense.
“The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) continues to recommend that all pregnant people be vaccinated. Illness, including COVID, is dangerous during pregnancy, and the more serious the illness, the more dangerous it is for the growing baby,” Leifer says in her report. As she highlights, because the vaccine cannot be given to babies younger than 6 months, vaccination during pregnancy and the antibodies it produces are the best method of protecting infants from COVID before their first shot.
Why is this so complicated?
If it feels like medical experts are disagreeing with government agencies more than ever, that is very much the case. In fact, a number of public health authorities, including the AAP, IDSA, and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine are suing Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for his “unscientific changes to federal vaccine policy,” calling his changes to COVID shot recommendations “an assault on science, public health, and evidence-based medicine.”
Now more than ever, it is imperative that you get your medical advice from licensed medical experts and ask your own personal doctor about what’s right for you. That’s the best way to avoid falling victim to misinformation (and a bad case of whatever razor blade throat is — no thanks).
