Health & Lifestyle

CDC to continue recommending Covid boosters for everyone this fall including babies – as it adds a third vaccine made by Novavax to the schedule

  • READ MORE: More than a third of US schools don’t have a single nurse on-site

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will stick by its recommendation for everyone including babies to get vaccinated against Covid.

In fresh guidance issued today, the health agency said that all Americans aged six months and up should get the new updated booster shot this fall.

The CDC said healthy children and adults ‘still experience severe COVID-19 illness’ and that ‘antibodies from vaccination, previous infection, or both weaken over time’.

The new booster rollout began last month and includes vaccines that have been updated to protect against sub-variants that have been driving a rise in cases. 

The vaccines have been shown to be highly safe, carrying a vanishingly small risk of serious side effects, but questions about their efficacy have grown over time. 

The CDC's recommendation means the vaccine is safe for even very young children, but some health officials have questioned if a shot for babies is necessary

The CDC’s recommendation means the vaccine is safe for even very young children, but some health officials have questioned if a shot for babies is necessary 

This graph shows the uptake for the fall 2022 booster in America across different age groups. The dark purple line represents those aged 65 and older, the dotted pink line is for 50-64-year-olds, the solid green line for 25-49-year-olds, dotted green for 18-24, solid yellow for 12-17, thickest dotted yellow for 5-11 and dotted yellow line at the bottom for 2-4 years.

This graph shows the uptake for the fall 2022 booster in America across different age groups. The dark purple line represents those aged 65 and older, the dotted pink line is for 50-64-year-olds, the solid green line for 25-49-year-olds, dotted green for 18-24, solid yellow for 12-17, thickest dotted yellow for 5-11 and dotted yellow line at the bottom for 2-4 years.

America is an international outlier in recommending Covid boosters for younger age groups, with other countries previously only offering them to older adults.

But doctors in the US say the recommendation is because of the country’s healthcare model, with the blanket recommendation needed to ensure health insurance companies cover the costs.

The UK, for comparison, is rolling out the updated Covid booster only to adults aged 65 years and older — saying they are the group most at risk for severe disease.

Dr Ashish Jha, the former White House Covid coordinator, said the UK’s decision was not based on calculations about who would benefit the most, but because the government cannot effectively afford to offer the shots to everyone.

Last year, the CDC also recommended the Covid bivalent booster for everyone aged six months and over.

Dr Paul Offit, who advises the FDA on a range of shots for infectious diseases, previously told DailyMail.com that middle-aged and younger Americans without chronic diseases don’t need another Covid booster shot because they already have strong enough immunity through previous Covid vaccines and infections to prevent severe illness this winter.

The FDA previously said that starting at age five, most people can get a single dose of the newest booster even if they’ve never had a prior Covid shot.

Children aged five and above can get a single dose of a booster Covid vaccine, as long as it has been at least two months since their last Covid shot.

Kids between six months old and four years old, on the other hand, are eligible for one or two doses of the booster shot. Timings of the injections will depend on when they received their last Covid vaccine.

If the child is under five and is yet to receive any Covid vaccines, they will be able to get three doses of the Pfizer booster or two doses of the Moderna booster.

Americans can get the latest shot from health clinics or pharmacies. After the vaccine rollout was handed off to private companies, most Americans are still able to access the Covid vaccine for free under their insurance. 

The uninsured and most of the underinsured are also able to get a free shot.

The CDC recommends people wait at least two months since their last Covid shot.

Since September last year, bivalent mRNA Covid boosters have been recommended in the US, but they were designed to protect against variants that are no longer widely circulating.

Over the past couple of months, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the newest booster, made by Pfizer and Moderna, which protects against the Omicron variant XBB.1.5.

Also approved is biotech company Novavax’s protein-based shot.

New variants EG.5 and BA.2.86 sparked alarm in recent months over evidence they were the most infectious yet, with EG.5 currently being dominant in the US.

The updated vaccines are targeted at variants XBB.1.5 — which are now only behind a small proportion of cases — but tests show they should still provide protection against the currently circulating strains.

Official data showed there were 18,139 Covid hospital admissions nationwide over the week ending September 30, down six percent from the previous week.

The number was well-below this year’s peak of 44,400 admissions recorded in January.

Overall, there has been a dwindling appetite for Covid boosters. Since the newest shots became available, just four million Americans, or one percent, have been inoculated with the latest version. 

And only 17 percent of eligible Americans got the last Covid booster. 


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