Top Medical Groups Reaffirm Vaccination During Flu, COVID Season

• The CDC has not yet issued new COVID-19 or RSV recommendations for the 2026–2027 season and has instead carried over last year’s flu guidance.
• Four medical groups released their own recommendations in September, each covering a different population: children, adults, pregnant people, and those with weakened immune systems.
• All four groups recommend a flu shot for everyone 6 months and older, and their COVID and RSV advice varies by age and risk.
• Vaccinations are available at major pharmacies across the United States.

Pediatricians are turning to major medical organizations rather than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for guidance on vaccines for the fall and winter respiratory virus season, which runs from October through mid-May.

That’s because the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee — the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) — hasn’t issued new COVID-19 or RSV recommendations this season. Instead, the agency has only carried over last year’s flu guidance.

Despite the lack of CDC guidance, four top medical groups have released recommendations for the 2026–2027 respiratory virus season on September 2, each covering a different group of patients:

The review found the vaccines continue to protect against severe illness, hospitalization, and death, and identified no new safety concerns, according to the AMA.

The people who wrote this season’s recommendations are “in some cases the same experts or the same kinds of experts that would have informed the CDC,” said Benjamin Lopman, PhD, professor of epidemiology and global health at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.

The CDC’s flu vaccination guidance page, updated September 1, points to an interim document and notes that updates “are forthcoming.”

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved an mRNA flu vaccine for adults 50 and older in August, the first of its kind.

“Children 6 months and older should get a seasonal flu vaccine near the start of flu season, usually in September or October,” said Andi Shane, MD, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

A flu shot “can help lower a child’s risk of serious illness, hospitalization, and complications like pneumonia or dehydration,” Shane told Healthline.

Graham Tse, MD, chief medical officer of MemorialCare Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital in Long Beach, CA., said that respiratory viruses usually start circulating around this time.

“Getting a shot now or in the next month or two is optimal, though there is benefit to receiving the vaccines through the season into the spring if you did not receive a vaccine earlier,” he told Healthline.

The CDC hasn’t issued new COVID vaccine recommendations for this season.

The CDC’s most recent guidance, from last year, advises consulting with a healthcare professional rather than recommending vaccination.

The vaccines themselves cleared a different process. The FDA approved updated shots on August 27, reformulated to match the variants currently circulating. Its vaccine advisory committee, which is separate from the CDC panel, met in May to select this year’s strain.

Having had COVID before doesn’t change the recommendation, Shane said. The virus changes over time, and a child who had it last year “may not be well protected against the strains spreading now.”

Since 1964, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has reviewed the evidence and set the vaccine recommendations most American doctors follow.

That was disrupted last year when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) dismissed ACIP’s members and appointed replacements.

Despite a successful court challenge in March, an expert-led ACIP has not been restored.

“The science is as strong as ever,” Lopman told Healthline. “What’s changed is that CDC and the ACIP have not been there to provide the evidence-based guidance.”

The absence of a single federal voice “can create confusion for parents when there’s a lot of misinformation out there already about vaccines,” he said.

“It has made doctors’ work more difficult,” Tse said. Parents are declining vaccines more often, he said, and doctors are spending more time explaining and defending the science behind them.

Healthline contacted HHS for this article and did not receive a response.

Shane said that her recommendation to families is to continue following the AAP-endorsed vaccine schedule.

She suggests parents come in with specific questions: Is my child eligible? When should they get it? Does their age, health history, or contact with someone at higher risk change what’s recommended?

“Pediatricians are there to help families understand the options and make decisions that feel right for their child,” she said.

For now, the societies are covering the work the federal government isn’t. “I think we can fill that gap for a while,” Lopman said. “But I think it’s really important that ACIP… is reestablished.”