US CDC approves adding COVID vaccine to immunization schedules

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory committee on vaccines on Thursday approved adding COVID-19 to the agency’s recommended immunization schedules for children and adults.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted unanimously to add the vaccines to the schedules, which contain recommendations to physicians on which shots their patients should receive and when.

Several committee members stressed that they were not setting a requirement for anyone to receive the shots. The CDC recommended that Americans over six months of age receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

Syringes are pictured at Skippack Pharmacy in Schwenksville, Pennsylvania, U.S., May 19, 2022. REUTERS/Hannah Beier

Some parents and doctors against COVID-19 vaccine mandates have expressed concerns during public comments at the meeting and on social media that adding the shots to the U.S. CDC schedule will encourage state regulators to require them for public school attendance.

“Adding the COVID-19 vaccine to the recommended childhood immunization schedule does not constitute a requirement that any child receives the vaccine,” said Dr. Nirav Shah, an ACIP member and Director of Maine’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Shah noted that there are currently vaccines on the schedule, such as seasonal flu shots, that are not required for school attendance in many places.

“The decision around school entrance for vaccines rests where it did before, which is with the state level, the county level, and at the municipal level,” Shah said. The CDC stressed that the annual schedules reflect recommendations already approved by ACIP and do not reflect new policies.

On Wednesday, ACIP recommended that COVID-19 shots become part of the CDC’s vaccine program for children, providing many free inoculations to millions of kids each year.