Your Fall Flu Shot Should Not Depend on Workarounds
By - Joe Zamboni, J.D., M.P.H.
This fall, Americans may head into flu season without a fully functioning Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP. That matters because ACIP is the federal committee that normally helps translate vaccine science into the recommendations that guide doctors, pharmacies, insurers, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Vaccines for Children program.
The good news is that flu shots will almost certainly still be available this year. Annual influenza vaccination has been recommended for everyone 6 months and older for years, and professional medical organizations continue to support routine flu vaccination. Insurers have also signaled that coverage should mostly continue, meaning most people should still be able to get their flu shot without major disruption.
But “mostly fine” is not good enough.
Flu is probably the easiest vaccine to keep moving during a federal advisory breakdown because the system already knows how to produce, distribute, recommend, and cover it every year. If any vaccine can survive on institutional memory, it is the flu shot. But public health should not have to run on memory, informal commitments, and legal workarounds.
This is especially important as new flu vaccine technology moves forward. FDA advisers recently backed Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine for older adults, a potentially important development because mRNA technology can be updated and manufactured more quickly than traditional flu vaccines. That could matter when flu strains shift and vaccine match becomes a concern.
So yes: people should still plan to get their flu shots this fall. But the bigger story is not whether the system can limp through one season. It is whether we are willing to accept a vaccine policy system where access, coverage, and public confidence depend on contingency plans instead of a functioning, science-based federal process.
A fall flu shot should be simple. The fact that it now requires this much explanation is exactly the problem.