Fall COVID shots update

From Council Member Gale Brewer’s weekly email newsletter, September 4, 2025

Constituents who are over age 65 have contacted my office, recounting visits to chain drug stores like CVS and Walgreens whose pharmacists are saying they can’t offer COVID vaccines without knowing if Medicare will pay for the shots. (WNYC/Gothamist reporting says there are none of the new vaccines in Manhattan!)

In past years, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) guidance on vaccine updates has signalled to health insurers what should be covered. The ACIP will meet 9/18–9/19 to consider the FDA’s advisory committee’s most recent recommendation for the latest booster (which, as we mentioned last week, narrows those who qualify for boosters from everyone older than six months, to only those over age 65 and those under 65 with high-risk conditions, even in the face of medical evidence that everyone can benefit from vaccine protections). We’re going to have to wait at least until that meeting to see how the insurance coverage question shakes out. 

Meanwhile, in an effort to cut through the confusion, I wrote to Gov. Hochul asking that she direct the NYS Department of Health to issue a standing order authorizing New York State licensed pharmacists to administer FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccines, without requiring a recommendation from the ACIP and to make any needed regulatory changes to do so. 

Coverage:

• N.Y.C. Covid Cases Appear to Be Rising. So Are Inquiries on Vaccines. (NY Times) “Patients are flooding medical practices with reports of the telltale signs of Covid and questions about whether they will be able to get vaccinated…. A new variant called Stratus is receiving some of the blame for rising case numbers nationally… The F.D.A.’s new limited approval includes two vaccines designed with mRNA to target the LP.8.1 variant, which represents nearly one-third of recent cases… ”
• Why getting a COVID shot in NY could be a hassle this year (Gothamist) “…CVS and Walgreens have confirmed they will administer the new COVID shots in New York, but said patients will now need a prescription from a doctor, something that was never required in the past…”
• The Latest on COVID Shots (Brian Lehrer Show audio segment, WNYC) 
• CVS, Walgreens set new guidelines for COVID-19 vaccines (NJ Spotlight) CVS will restrict vaccine access in some states, make available to all in NJ.
• Can You Still Get the Covid Shot? (NY Times) 
• Snubbing Kennedy, States Announce Plans to Coordinate on Vaccines (NY Times) Governors in California, Oregon and Washington said their states would work together on vaccine guidance in a time of turmoil at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• Breaking: RFK Jr. seeks to rush 7 new members to CDC vaccine panel. (Dr. Jeremy Faust’s Inside Medicine newsletter)