Vaccine policy is usually decided by a group of outside experts\u2014the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices<\/a>, which holds a public meeting to review vaccine data, take questions, vote on recommendations, and then advise the director of the CDC accordingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. departed from this protocol via a post on\u00a0X<\/a>. Two weeks before the committee was scheduled to\u00a0meet<\/a>, Kennedy announced that two groups, specifically pregnant women and healthy children, would\u00a0no longer be recommended<\/a>\u00a0to receive Covid vaccines. He did not mention recommendations for other populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The move was unprecedented and controversial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The landscape was further muddled by the CDC announcing that the Covid-19 vaccines would remain on the childhood immunization schedule, contradicting<\/a> RFK Jr.\u2019s decree. \u201cWe\u2019re in a little bit of uncharted waters,\u201d says Michelle Fiscus<\/a>, the chief medical officer of the nonprofit Association of Immunization Managers<\/a>.Related video: What are mRNA vaccines? (STAT News Video – Video)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Loaded: 9.82%Play Current Time 0:00<\/p>\n\n\n\n \/<\/p>\n\n\n\n Duration 2:02Quality SettingsCaptionsFullscreen<\/p>\n\n\n\n What are mRNA vaccines?Unmute<\/p>\n\n\n\n 0<\/p>\n\n\n\n View on Watch<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n And what started as a pre-emptive sidestep escalated to an elimination and then replacement. On Monday, RFK Jr. fired all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices,<\/a> claiming the panel needed to be reconstituted to avoid conflicts of interest<\/a> that he says preclude sufficient scrutiny of vaccines. On Wednesday, he named eight new members to the committee, including four, as the New York Times<\/em> reported<\/a>, \u201cwho have spoken out against vaccination in some way.\u201d The changes add to the uncertainty about how immunization policy will be developed and whether the burden of paying for vaccines will shift more to patients, rather than insurers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These recent developments have left many people confused about the updated Covid-19 vaccines and who should be taking them. So we consulted vaccine and public health experts to help make sense of the recent changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Covid-19 vaccines first became available, they were administered as one or two doses, protecting against severe illness and death<\/a>. But immunity wanes over time<\/a>, Fiscus says, so booster vaccines, or additional doses of the primary series, were introduced to maintain protection\u2014even if only in the short<\/a> term<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the pandemic progressed, new variants like Delta and Omicron emerged and evaded vaccine protection<\/a>, prompting the need for new targeted formulations<\/a>, she continues. So repeated doses of the original vaccine, or boosters, were replaced with updated vaccines \u2014 new compositions that better match circulating viral strains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So when it comes to the latest recommendations, \u201cwe\u2019re not talking about boosters anymore, Fiscus says. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about new vaccines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Simply put, those at the highest risk of developing severe illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adults over age 65 and people with compromised immune systems are clear examples<\/a>, says Anil Makam<\/a>, a hospital medicine physician at the University of California, San Francisco\u2014because they\u2019re more likely to be hospitalized<\/a> and die of Covid-19<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So the CDC\u2019s recent choice to drop healthy pregnant women from its recommendations was confusing. \u201cPregnancy is probably the highest dynamic risk condition,\u201d says Jeremy Faust<\/a>, an emergency physician at Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital, because it puts otherwise healthy women in vulnerable positions<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is because pregnancy suppresses the expecting mother\u2019s immune system, says Ofer Levy<\/a>, a pediatrician and director of the Precision Vaccines Program<\/a> at Boston Children\u2019s Hospital, so that it doesn\u2019t attack the fetus as a foreign pathogen. The updated vaccines can thus help pregnant women stay protected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Covid-19 vaccines can also protect the newborn\u2014one of the highest-risk groups for hospitalization\u2014since taking a dose during pregnancy confers maternal antibodies to the fetus, Faust says. Because data on the safety of vaccinating children under 6 months isn\u2019t available, vaccinating pregnant women is the best way to protect babies over that period, he continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But some experts feel these benefits will likely be modest. For example, since most pregnant women have already received the primary vaccine series, they will still have Covid-19 antibodies in their blood and be able to transfer some to their fetus via the placenta or breast milk<\/a>. So the real question, Makam says, is what additional protection does another dose provide beyond the immunity they already have? While the evidence on the marginal benefits of updated vaccines isn\u2019t definitive, Faust says they still make sense to help prevent severe disease complications for mother and child. He reminds that \u201cthe maternal mortality during Covid was extraordinarily terrible, and it’s gotten a lot better due to vaccines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The general public health recommendation: probably not. \u201cHigher risk and older populations should stay up to date on Covid vaccines,\u201d Faust says. \u201cEveryone else may.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It comes back to the same question about extra doses: \u201cIf you\u2019re getting one every cycle, the benefits are probably minimally advantageous and short-lived,\u201d Makam says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But while the decision to get a vaccine is binary, informed decisions exist on a spectrum. \u201cI am 59 years old, so I\u2019m not yet considered elderly. But I’m at higher risk than somebody who\u2019s 20,\u201d Levy says. \u201cWhere do you draw that line?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As such, the choice to receive an updated vaccine should be made with a trusted health care provider, who can weigh medical history, local Covid-19 trends and household circumstances, he continues. Physicians sometimes call this process \u201cshared decision-making.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The same logic generally holds for children. Since they have the least exposure to the virus, they definitely should get vaccinated for Covid-19 if they haven\u2019t before, Faust says. But for those who are healthy and have already gotten the original series, the updated vaccine may only offer limited benefits, so further vaccination should be considered on a case-by-case basis by pediatricians and families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, some caution is warranted, especially for adolescent boys and young men, the one group with a consistently observed\u2014albeit small\u2014risk of myocarditis<\/a>, an inflammation of the heart muscle, Makam says. Given this drawback and the likely minimal benefits, he suggests that an updated vaccine may not be worth it for this group. That said, the landscape is shifting: The risk of myocarditis has decreased significantly with updated vaccines, Faust notes, offering reassurance as families and clinicians weigh their options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To summarize, for healthy people already vaccinated by the primary series, an updated dose may or may not be necessary, but this decision should come from a conversation between families and their providers, according to Levy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People who\u2019ve had myocarditis shortly after a previous dose or have faced multisystem inflammatory syndrome, a rare Covid-19 complication, should avoid the vaccine if possible and take significant precautions<\/a> if not. But the only absolute deterrent is a history of severe allergies to a previous dose\u2014a common-sense one. \u201cIf you had a serious reaction to an mRNA vaccine, you should think twice before getting another,\u201d Levy says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Otherwise, the evidence does not support any general safety concerns. \u201cWhat often gets lost in the conversation is just how safe these vaccines have proven to be,\u201d Faust says. The primary series clinical trials enrolled tens of thousands of participants\u2014massive studies that helped establish a strong safety profile early on. \u201cThe risk of serious side effects was always low\u2014and it\u2019s only gotten lower,\u201d he continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In August or September, pharmaceutical companies will update the precise composition of the Covid-19 and flu vaccines, following recommendations from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The goal is to match the circulating strains as closely as possible, Levy says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![](\"https:\/\/assets.msn.com\/staticsb\/statics\/latest\/views\/icons\/video\/videoSeekBack.svg\")
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What\u2019s the difference between a booster and an updated vaccine?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Who should get the updated Covid-19 vaccine?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Do healthy people need an updated vaccine?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Should anyone avoid the updated vaccine?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
When are updated vaccines coming out?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n