Major Medical Groups Step Up With Fall Vaccine Guidance as Federal Health Agencies Go Silent

Doctors Fill a Federal Void

Major medical groups have released their vaccine recommendations for the 2026-2027 respiratory virus season, stepping in as federal health agencies face credibility concerns under the influence of anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. It is an extraordinary moment in American public health — one where the country's leading physician organizations felt compelled to act because the government would not.

Typically, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launches a fall campaign around this time of year, recommending seasonal immunizations such as the flu shot and COVID-19 vaccines. But under the second Trump administration, the agency has mostly been silent this year. The CDC hasn't issued new recommendations for RSV immunization or COVID-19 vaccines for this season. As Dr. Sandra Fryhofer of the American Medical Association put it, "There's been a lot of confusion and chaos regarding vaccine recommendations."

To help fill the void, the American Medical Association and the University of Minnesota's Vaccine Integrity Project launched their own independent reviews of this fall's vaccines — including those for flu, COVID, and RSV — published on September 2 in the medical journal JAMA. The recommendations themselves come from the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and are posted on a new AMA website, SpreadTheFacts.org.

What the Doctors Are Actually Recommending

The AMA and several leading specialty groups — including family physicians, pediatricians, infectious disease specialists, and OBGYNs — are aligned on the flu vaccine: it is recommended for everyone 6 months and older. Adults 65 and older should preferentially receive an enhanced product — meaning high-dose, adjuvanted, recombinant, or mRNA — though family physicians say patients should not delay vaccination just to obtain one.

For children, the AMA recommends all kids 6 to 23 months receive the COVID-19 vaccine, while children ages 2 to 18 should get the shot if they are in certain risk groups or simply want it. Adults 65 and older should receive a second dose of the updated COVID-19 vaccine six months after the first. COVID-19 vaccination is also recommended in any trimester of pregnancy and during lactation.

RSV guidance is the most tightly targeted of the three. The groups support a one-time vaccine for adults 75 and older and for adults 50 to 74 at increased risk. Pregnant patients should receive the RSV vaccine between 32 and 36 weeks during the September-to-March window — a longer period than the previous September-to-January timeframe. Flu vaccinations are already underway, and COVID-19 shots are starting to arrive after the FDA approved this year's updated versions.

A Shift in Who Americans Should Trust for Vaccine Guidance

Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said the shift away from federal guidance is significant: "The single biggest change is that the recommendations are not now coming from the federal government. They're coming from professional societies of various different doctors."

The Vaccine Integrity Project stated in its key findings that "the newest evidence continues to demonstrate that immunization provides meaningful protection against hospitalization, severe illness and death," and that "the degree of protection varies by virus, vaccine or immunization product, population, season and circulating strains." Crucially, "no new safety concerns were identified in comparative studies evaluating currently recommended immunizations," with findings consistent with the well-established safety profiles of influenza and COVID-19 vaccines.

The AMA also launched a digital resource hub with immunization materials for clinicians and patients, reflecting a needs assessment of physicians, patients, parents, public health professionals, and payers to identify the tools needed to put this season's vaccine recommendations into practice — all available at SpreadTheFacts.org. As respiratory virus season ramps up, that unified resource may prove to be the most important public health tool Americans have this fall — not from Washington, but from the doctors who treat them every day.