Will flu, COVID-19 vaccines be available this fall?

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Meghan Holohan

As fall nears and the respiratory illness season begins, many people are wondering if they’ll be able to receive updated flu and COVID-19 vaccines amid the turmoil created by the federal government about vaccines. Some worry that recent changes could mean they have to pay out of pocket for their annual doses. 

But experts say Americans don’t have to worry about vaccine coverage—this year, at least. 

“There will be available an updated influenza vaccine and an updated COVID vaccine. So far, that’s pretty normal,” William Schaffner, MD, professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt Health and spokesperson for the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), told CIDRAP News. “Insurers, that is, the medical insurance industry, have said that they would cover those vaccines.” 

Without federal guidance, societies step up

The US Food and Drug Administration weighed in on the composition of this season’s flu and COVID vaccines this past spring. Yet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) hasn’t provided guidance about either vaccine. 

“We’re in limbo in regard to this federal advisory committee,” Schaffner said. “However, professional societies—the American Academy of Pediatrics [AAP], the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Physicians—are all recommending routine vaccination.” 

IDSA, along with the Vaccine Integrity Project at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), publisher of CIDRAP News, recommend that adults and children with compromised immune systems receive a COVID vaccine. They also recommend an annual flu shot. 

“Everyone 6 months of age and older is recommended to get the flu vaccine,” James Campbell, MD, chair of the Committee on Infectious Diseases at the AAP and head of the division of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said. 

“It’s about 80% vaccine efficacy against death… Knowing that you can protect your child from death with a simple vaccine, most providers and most families would take that very seriously, and hopefully will chose to vaccinate” he added.

AAP’s recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines in children will be coming soon, he said.

There are worries that federal insurance might stop paying for vaccines, but Campbell doesn’t anticipate that. 

“I don’t see any reason, at this point, why insurers, including the federal government… would choose not to offer to cover vaccines for children,” he said. “They know it’s relatively inexpensive to provide the vaccine, but it’s very expensive if a child winds up in the hospital.”

Across the country, public health departments continue to recommend flu and COVID-19 vaccines in alignment with medical association guidelines. 

“Local public health and state public health [are] literally standing in the gap right now,” said Michelle Taylor, MD, DrPH, commissioner of the Baltimore City Health Department, during a Big Cities Health Coalition press briefing. “We understand what to do for respiratory viral season. We do it every year.” 

Many doctors’ offices and hospitals already have secured vaccines for this respiratory virus season.  

“I can say talking with primary care practices, they’re ordering [vaccines],” Sean O’Leary, MD, MPH, the immunization schedule editor for the AAP’s Committee on Infectious Diseases, said at the press briefing. 

Can people get the mRNA flu shot this year?

In early August, the FDA approved the first mRNA flu shot, Moderna’s mFlusiva, for people aged 50 to 64, but it might take time before it’s widely available. 

“The company has told us they’re going to start delivering this vaccine through pharmacies,” Schaffner said. “If you have a particular interest in receiving this vaccine, I think it will start to become available, but you’ll have to ask for it.” 

Studies of the mRNA flu vaccine looked at how it stacked up to a standard-dose flu shot, and the FDA approved it for people up to age 64. “People age 65 and older, they preferentially get one of the enhanced vaccines, high-dose, adjuvanted, or recombinant, and so there wasn’t a comparison with one of the enhanced vaccines,” Schaffner said. “Those data will come along.” 

Do adults need flu and COVID shots every year?

The short answer? Yes. 

“Getting the vaccine is a good thing,” Schaffner said. “You’ll have to roll up your sleeve. You won’t have to reach for your wallet.” 

The influenza and SARS-CoV-2 viruses mutate every year, which is why updated vaccines offer better protection against the circulating strains. 

“Although, short-term protection against severe disease is pretty good, after a period of months, that protection begins to wane, and this is particularly true for people at the highest risk of severe disease,” Schaffner noted. “In order to update our protection and also to remind our immune system that it has to get ready to fight off these infections, we have to get annual vaccination.”