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.” 

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.