Leading US medical groups are urging people to get updated flu and Covid-19 vaccinations this fall, banding together on Wednesday to issue shot guidelines – and highlight the science behind them – saying they hope to ease confusion caused by the Trump administration’s changing advice. Flu vaccinations are beginning and the latest coronavirus shots are starting to arrive after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved this year’s updated versions last week. Winter also brings another vaccine-preventable risk called RSV.
Advice on who should take the shots and when usually comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with help from its independent advisers. But despite no new scientific evidence, Trump health officials last year began pulling back on some longstanding recommendations for fall virus protection and routine children’s vaccinations. And that advisory panel, which influences state and insurance vaccine policies, is caught in a court battle.
The CDC did not respond to questions about any new fall guidance. Doctors’ groups are filling the gap: the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Infectious Diseases Society of America each released vaccination guidelines for their patient populations. The AMA is putting all the groups’ recommendations plus evidence on shot safety and effectiveness on a website, SpreadTheFacts.org, so “the public has clear, consistent, science-based guidance even while the federal process is in flux”, she said.
Just about everybody starting at the age of six months needs a flu vaccination, the medical societies agree. But flu is particularly dangerous for people 65 and older, pregnant women, young children and people of any age who have chronic health problems, including asthma, diabetes, heart disease and weak immune systems. The last two flu seasons were especially harsh, with unusually high numbers of child deaths – the vast majority of them in unvaccinated kids.
The vaccines don’t block all flu infections but they do help prevent the worst outcomes, decreasing older adults’ hospitalizations by 31%, according to the Vaccine Integrity Project, a public health group based at the University of Minnesota. Its analysis was published on Wednesday in the medical journal Jama. Three “enhanced” flu vaccines are designed to better protect seniors.
The American Academy of Family Physicians urges them to choose one – “but do not delay your vaccination if that one’s not available”, said AAFP’s Dr Sarah Nosal. There is a new choice this year for people ages 50 and older, the first flu vaccine made with the same mRNA technology that was key to ending the Covid-19 pandemic. One study found Moderna’s mFlusiva was 27% more effective against symptomatic illness among 50- to 64-year-olds than a standard shot.
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