Today's Edition
NEW YORK (Reuters)
Americans headed to pharmacies for COVID-19 vaccines are running into roadblocks and confusion due to new US guidance that abandoned broad support for the shots, contributing to the lowest vaccination rates since they were introduced.
For the four-week period ended October 3, COVID immunizations were down about 25% nationally, according to IQVIA data in analysts' research notes.
Utah, Georgia and Louisiana had been requiring prescriptions while awaiting US CDC guidance on who should get the shot.
STATES ADD TO CONFUSION
Utah authorized pharmacists to provide the shot in late September without prescriptions, while Georgia and Louisiana dropped the requirement early this month. A Walgreens spokesperson said patients no longer need a prescription.
Since their mid-pandemic introduction, COVID shots have been recommended for anyone in the US who wanted one. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention withdrew that broad support, calling for consultation with a healthcare provider first.
The move came after the FDA approved updated shots only for people aged 65 and over and those at risk of severe disease. The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the FDA and CDC, is now led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Health insurers rely on CDC guidelines, informed by recommendations from its outside expert advisers, to set their vaccine coverage terms.
Major insurers have said they will provide coverage for the vaccine through 2026.
US VACCINATION RATES HIGHER THAN OTHER WEALTHY NATIONS
In most European countries, Canada and Australia, COVID vaccine guidance was already limited to older adults and those at high risk of severe COVID.
The midpoint of vaccination rates for adults over 60 in the 21 European Union countries was 8.7% from August 2024 to March 2025, according to the European CDC, well below the 2024 US rate among adults of around 23%, according to CDC data.
COVID hospitalizations continue to present a burden on health systems, said Jodie Guest, an epidemiology professor at Emory University.
CVS Health Chief Medical Officer Amy Compton-Phillips said in an interview that demand for COVID and flu shots has been lower than last year.
Pfizer, with German partner BioNTech, and Moderna make COVID shots based on messenger RNA technology. Novavax and French partner Sanofi sell a more traditional vaccine.
The delay in official CDC guidance on updated shots following the FDA's more limited approval created confusion among consumers and independent pharmacies, which make up about one-third of US pharmacies.
