FDA Approves Updated COVID-19 Vaccines With New Age and Risk Restrictions

Washington, The Gulf Observer: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday approved updated COVID-19 vaccines for the upcoming fall season, while significantly restricting eligibility for the shots in what marks the federal government’s most limited vaccine policy since their rollout.

According to the authorization, the updated vaccines will be available to people aged 65 and older, who remain at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19. Younger adults will only qualify if they have at least one underlying medical condition that increases their risk of serious disease. Healthy children under 18 may still receive the shots, but only upon consultation with a medical provider, News.Az reported, citing The New York Times.

The decision adds another step for vaccine availability as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) advisory committee must still vote on whether to recommend the shots. The panel’s composition has recently changed after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. replaced several members, reduced its size, and included some known critics of COVID-19 vaccines.

This fall will mark the first season in which COVID-19 vaccines are not broadly recommended for the general population, setting up a dispute between federal health officials under the Trump administration and several national medical associations that oppose the new restrictions.

In a social media statement, Secretary Kennedy said the new framework achieves two key objectives: ensuring vaccines remain available to those who want them and requiring pharmaceutical companies to conduct placebo-controlled trials. Among the mandated studies is one focused on so-called “post-COVID-19 vaccination syndrome,” a condition described in preliminary reports but still subject to scientific debate.

“The American people demanded science, safety, and common sense,” Kennedy wrote on X. “This framework delivers all three.”