CDC Says COVID-19 Vaccination Now Up to Each Individual

The agency accepted advice from its vaccine advisory panel.

A nurse holds a COVID-19 vaccine, in a file illustration photograph in Miami, Fla. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention no longer broadly recommends COVID-19 vaccination. The agency now says that each person should take a range of factors into account, and consult with their doctor, before receiving a shot.

“Informed consent is back,” Jim O'Neill, the CDC’s acting director, said in a statement on Oct. 6 after accepting advice from the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel. “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.”