October 7, 2025
The CDC has approved new COVID-19 vaccine guidelines that require individuals to consult a healthcare professional before receiving the shot.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved new guidelines for updated COVID-19 vaccines, requiring individuals to consult a health professional before receiving the shot.
On Oct. 6, CDC Director Jim O’Neill endorsed the COVID-19 vaccine recommendations from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s handpicked Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, NPR reports. Known as “shared decision-making” or “individual-based decision-making,” the new guidelines advise individuals to consult a doctor, pharmacist, or other healthcare provider about the risks and benefits of the vaccine before receiving it.
The recommendation’s approval is the final step needed to implement the new guidelines, impacting who can receive and administer the COVID-19 vaccine, as well as whether it will be covered by private and government insurance without copays. The official decision also enables the CDC to begin distributing vaccines to doctors, clinics, and other providers through the Vaccines for Children Program, which provides free vaccines to roughly 40% of U.S. children.
“Informed consent is back,” O’Neill said in an announcement. “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. That changes today.”
However, critics and vaccine experts are pushing back, accusing the CDC of reviving Trump-era misinformation tactics.
“The claim that the past recommendations deterred health care professionals from talking to patients about risks is completely untrue and is another example of the misinformation and made-up information that this administration continues to release to the public and further creates confusion and distrust in healthcare providers and vaccines,” said Dr. Tina Tan, the president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. “This is extremely unfortunate and critically increases the American public’s risk for serious vaccine-preventable diseases.”
The recommendations stem from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ September meeting on the updated guidelines. They also come after RFK Jr. dismissed all 17 members of the influential vaccine panel earlier this year, replacing them with his own appointees, many of whom have expressed skepticism toward COVID vaccines.
Kennedy often faces criticism for his anti-vaccine stance and false labeling of the COVID vaccine as the “deadliest vaccine ever made.” In May, he began limiting vaccine access in ways that bypassed standard regulatory channels when he announced that the CDC would no longer recommend COVID vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women.
Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, a professor of global health and infectious diseases at Stanford University, noted that the so-called shared clinical decision-making approach “puts up one more little barrier” to getting the shot.
“It’s kind of a vague term that says you should have your doctor or your provider or pharmacist tell you what the risks and benefits are before you get the vaccine,” Maldonado said.
RELATED CONTENT: CDC ‘Pauses’ Disability Rule For Remote Work Following Massive Backlash
