CDC Updates Guidance On COVID Vaccine: What To Know In RI

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance for the COVID-19 vaccine Monday, ending months of confusion about the vaccine in Rhode Island.

The new guidance advises people 65 and older to consult a doctor or pharmacist before getting the shot.

“Informed consent is back,” acting CDC director Jim O’Neill said in a news release after he signed off on the recommendations of an agency advisory panel.

“CDC’s 2022 blanket recommendation for perpetual COVID-19 boosters deterred health care providers from talking about the risks and benefits of vaccination for the individual patient or parent,” he said. “That changes today.”

Related: New COVID-19 Vaccine Restrictions: What It Means For RI Residents

Rhode Island residents who are younger than 65 will still be able to get the shot if their doctor or pharmacist recommends it.

Major medical societies continue to recommend shots for younger children, pregnant women and others at higher risk of severe illness. They say the Trump administration’s discussion of risk overemphasizes rare side effects and doesn't account for the dangers of coronavirus infection itself.

COVID-19 vaccinations have been in a state of flux since early this year when Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed the influential 17-member vaccine panel and appointed his own choices, many of whom, like Kennedy, have been skeptical of COVID and other vaccines.

In May, Kennedy bypassed standard regulatory procedures to limit vaccine access. He announced that the CDC would no longer recommend COVID-19 vaccinations for healthy children and pregnant women.

Related: ‘Razor Blade’ COVID-19 Variant Stratus Drives Up Cases In RI

States generally mirror CDC vaccine guidance, but in rare defiance of the Trump administration, some states are making their own recommendations to keep access as broad as possible, according to KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group.

Here’s what Rhode Island recommends: The vaccine for those age 3 and older with insurance coverage.

The CDC guidance comes as a normal summer uptick in cases appears to have peaked. According to CDC surveillance, test positivity dropped from a summer high of 11.7% reached the week of Aug. 23 to 6.7% on Sept. 27. Hospitalizations during the same period dropped by half.

Data from the most recent wastewater monitoring in Rhode Island shows low level viral activity at 11 collection sites. The data was last updated on Sept. 27.

Related: How Shifting Vaccine Policy Could Affect RI School-Age Children

Rhode Island residents who want the shot could face some obstacles, including low vaccine inventory because the CDC’s recommendations are focused on older adults. Last season, 23% of adults and 13% of children got the vaccine, according to CDC data.

CVS Health spokeswoman Amy Thibault said the chain’s pharmacies would be ready to administer COVID shots to people ages 5 and older as soon as the CDC signed off, according to NBC News.

Walgreens told NBC in an email that the chain’s pharmacies “will offer the 2025-2026 COVID-19 vaccines at locations nationwide” to people 3 and older without a prescription.

The updated vaccines offered by Pfizer and Moderna target the LP.8.1 variant, which accounts for just 3% of all new COVID cases, according to the CDC. A strain called XFG is now dominant, accounting for at least 85% of new COVID cases. Both are descendants of the omicron variant.

Most people who have insurance should be able to get it this year without a copay. AHIP, a health insurance industry trade group, said earlier this year that private plans will continue to cover CDC recommendations on Sept. 21, meaning vaccinations for people 6 months and older are covered by insurance.

Medicare, Medicaid and other government health programs will continue to cover the shots at no cost, an HHS spokesperson told NBC.

O’Neill also signed off on a panel recommendation that children under 4 get their first vaccine dose for varicella — also known as chickenpox — as a standalone shot rather than in combination shot with measles, mumps and rubella.

There is a single shot that contains all four, but it carries a higher risk of fevers and fever-related seizures. Since 2009, the CDC had said it prefers separate shots for initial doses of those vaccines and 85% of toddlers already get the chickenpox vaccine separately.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.