Health care providers in the Madison area are beginning to schedule and administer annual vaccines against COVID-19 and influenza, following updates from both federal and state health authorities affecting access and availability of the vaccines for different populations.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in August approved updated COVID-19 boosters for 2025-2026 to target the most recent variant of the disease. But the agency restricted access to the updated vaccine to people who are over 65 years old or at risk of serious complications if they contract COVID-19. The FDA previously recommended people receive the vaccine from the age of six months onward.
The change in federal guidance led professional medical societies — including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American Academy of Family Physicians — to issue their own recommendations based on existing evidence of the impact of the COVID-19 vaccine. This largely echoed previous iterations of federal guidance…