Adults 65 years and older are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and at higher risk for severe disease and hospitalizations.
“Today’s recommendation allows older adults to receive an additional dose of this season’s COVID-19 vaccine to provide added protection,” CDC Director Mandy Cohen said in a statement. “Most COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations last year were among people 65 years and older. An additional vaccine dose can provide added protection that may have decreased over time for those at highest risk.”
The official recommendation means that the shots will be covered by insurance plans, and people will be able to get them at pharmacies in the next few days.
People 18 to 64 do not face the same risks, so an additional dose wouldn’t be cost effective for them, agency advisers said.
According to the CDC scientific advisers, the latest vaccines have an effectiveness of about 40 to 50 percent against symptomatic infection or hospitalization based on currently circulating variants, though the numbers in the analysis were small.
Earlier Wednesday, the scientific advisory panel voted 11-1, with one abstention, to recommend that older adults “should” get the shots.
Current CDC guidance recommends an additional COVID-19 vaccine dose for people who are moderately or severely immunocompromised, with people in this group having the option of getting one more dose two months after their initial shot.
Vaccine uptake has consistently fallen since the first COVID-19 vaccine was authorized in 2021. Federal data indicates less than a quarter of adults in the U.S. have received an updated 2023-24 COVID-19 vaccine dose.
