
For the first time, COVID-19 vaccines have been added to the list of routine immunizations recommended for adults — a further sign the virus is here to stay. The addition is being made to the 2023 Recommended Adult Immunization Schedule, released Thursday by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice (ACIP), an expert panel that advises the U.S. federal government on vaccination recommendations for all Americans. COVID vaccination has, of course, been recommended ever since the vaccines became available. But its inclusion on the recommended vaccine schedule underscores the fact that COVID-19 is not going away, said Dr. Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, an Atlanta-based physician who serves as an ACIP liaison. “This reiterates that COVID has gone from pandemic to endemic,” Fryhofer said. “For now, it looks like it’s here to stay.” “Endemic” means that a disease is spreading at a more stable frequency, versus the exponential growth seen during a pandemic. At this point, most Americans have received the primary series of vaccines against COVID. However, few have gotten the updated “bivalent” boosters that target both the original strain of the virus that causes COVID and two Omicron subvariants. It has been available since September, but only about 16% of Americans have gotten it, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That rate is higher among people age 65 and older, who are… read on > read on >