Can you get a COVID-19 vaccine this season? Health experts say federal guidance is causing confusion

Fall is just around the corner, and across the U.S., many will make plans to get their vaccinations against the flu. But new federal guidance is causing confusion about who can receive a COVID-19 vaccine, and whether those vaccines will be widely available. 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in August approved the updated COVID-19 vaccine for adults over the age of 65, and anyone from six months through 64 years of age at risk of serious health problems. 

The vaccine was previously available to anyone six months and older regardless of their health. 

The change means it will be harder for people to access the COVID-19 vaccine, said William Shaffner, professor of infectious disease at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. Shaffner said, to give one example, it is currently unclear if a 62-year-old with underlying health conditions could walk into a pharmacy and ask for a vaccine without having to provide some kind of documentation.

“This is all very, very confusing and uncertain,” he said.

Indiana officials have so far offered little clarity on vaccinations in the state. Neither the Indiana Department of Health nor the Governor’s office returned WFYI’s request for comment.

Indiana Rep. Ed Clere (R-New Albany) noted that much of the state’s vaccine information online is outdated.

“Hoosiers who are looking for information about the COVID-19 vaccines are going to encounter a lack of information,” Clere said. “And that's something that needs to be corrected immediately.”

The Marion County Public Health Department said it would defer to the FDA for guidance on who would be approved for a vaccine. A spokesperson for the department said they were waiting to see what recommendations the CDC released later in the month.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, stated in online posts that vaccines would be available to any patient so long as they first consult with their doctor.

“We know that's just false,” said former Surgeon General Jerome Adams. He noted that many Americans don’t have a primary care doctor or insurance, and it’s not clear if patients will need a doctor’s prescription to access the vaccine.

“RFK has pledged to bring truth, transparency, and trust back to HHS, but objectively, we've seen truth, transparency, and trust drop to levels that we've never experienced in just a few months since he’s been at the helm,” Adams said.

CDC could release updated guidance

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to release further recommendations on who should get vaccinated later this month, but has already dropped guidance for pregnant mothers and healthy children to get regular COVID-19 vaccines.

Those changes prompted both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to release their own scientific guidelines, continuing to recommend shots for pregnant women and young children.

William Shaffner, the professor from Vanderbilt University, said last year the CDC advisory committee approved one of the most expansive COVID-19 recommendations in the world. He said it wasn’t out of the question that this year the advisory committee might have approved tighter restrictions anyway — with some major exceptions.

“They would have continued to recommend it for all pregnant women, not just those pregnant women with chronic medical conditions,” Shaffner said. “And they would have continued to recommend it for all infants and young children age six months through two years of age, routinely.”

The upcoming CDC guidelines will be released by its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, which is scheduled to meet on Sept. 18 and 19. 

But there are already questions about the committee ahead of its meeting. In June, RFK Jr. dismissed the entire committee.

Several of RFK Jr.’s replacements have been public critics of school pandemic lockdowns and mRNA vaccines. 

RFK Jr. is himself no stranger to vaccine skepticism, recently raising questions about how many lives the COVID-19 vaccine has really saved and canceling millions of dollars in research funding for future vaccines. 

This means the CDC’s advice on vaccinations is going to be difficult to trust, former Surgeon General Jerome Adams said. 

“It pains me to say this, you can no longer go to the federal government, to the Department of Health and Human Services, to the CDC or the FDA, because the information that they are putting out is much more ideological than it is based in science,” Adams said. 

Some states go their own way

Concerns about whether information and decisions from the CDC under RFK Jr. will be reliable have pushed some states to go their own way.

California, Oregon, and Washington announced in early Sept. they would form an alliance to review scientific data and make vaccine recommendations themselves — arguing that information coming from the CDC could no longer be trusted.

At the same time, Florida announced it would end vaccine requirements in the state altogether, including requirements for children attending school.

Rep. Clere said he worries Indiana could ultimately pursue the same policies as Florida.

“We're seeing pushback against vaccines that have been widely accepted for decades,” he said. “This pushback could do great harm and has already cost lives and has the potential to cause a lot of unnecessary illness and loss of life.”

Clere noted that Indiana Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith was among those who praised the Florida announcement.

In a post on social media, Beckwith wrote that Indiana should follow Florida in ending all vaccine mandates, putting medical decisions back “in the hands of individuals and families.”

Clere said he's worried the appetite to remove all vaccine mandates in Indiana extends past the Lt. Governor.

“Whether it's childhood vaccines or the COVID-19 vaccines, science is overwhelmingly on the side of vaccines,” Rep. Clere said. “We need to try and minimize the influence of politics in these discussions.”

Contact Health Reporter Benjamin Thorp at bthorp@wfyi.org.