Is anyone actually getting this year's COVID shot?

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  Feli13h ago

  The "opting out by confusion" thing is 100% real and I'd challenge anyone who disagrees to explain how the average person is supposed to navigate a system where the CDC says flu guidance from last year "still stands" but also won't issue new COVID guidance. That's not clarity. That's bureaucratic abdication dressed up as science.

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  Hana10h ago

  Can we please stop pretending that "healthy 30-year-olds never needed the annual shot" is some settled scientific consensus? That's a policy conclusion, not a biological fact. The underlying immunology hasn't changed. What changed is the political appetite for recommending it.

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  Alex6h ago

  That comment telling people confusion is a choice and they just need to "make a phone call" — have you tried calling a doctor's office lately? I waited 22 minutes on hold to ask one question about flu shot timing and was told to check the website. The website said to call. This is not a personal failure of effort. This is a broken access system.

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• M

  Marco12h ago

  I work at a pharmacy. The number of people calling us confused about whether they're "eligible" is staggering. We've had people hang up in frustration because they can't figure out if their asthma counts as an underlying condition. Meanwhile we're trained to upsell the flu shot to everyone. The mixed messaging isn't an accident, it's chaos, and real people are falling through the cracks because of it.

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• M9

  Maya 929h ago

  Look, I changed my mind on this over time. I was staunchly "everyone should get it annually forever" two years ago. But I've read enough now to genuinely believe the current narrower guidance is defensible on the merits. That's a hard thing to admit because it feels like giving ground to people who were never arguing in good faith. Doesn't make it wrong though.

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• JB

  Jamie B.7h ago

  Here's what I actually don't understand: if the worry is that muddled guidance causes healthy people to opt out, the solution is clearer guidance, not broader mandates. Targeting recommendations to high-risk groups IS clearer guidance. The people complaining about confusion seem to want the answer to be "everyone gets it" and are calling it confusion when the answer is more nuanced than that.

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  Drew2h ago

  because a lot of people don't have a doctor they trust, or a doctor at all, and public guidance is what fills that gap — or used to. That's why it requires a 38-comment thread.

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  Leo12h ago

  I'm 68 with type 2 diabetes. Got my appointment booked for October 15th. Some of us don't have the luxury of treating this like a culture war argument.

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  Ravi5h ago

  Nobody has addressed the actual interesting policy question here: what happens to vaccine infrastructure — the cold chain, the pharmacy agreements, the public health staffing — if annual uptake craters among working-age adults? Those systems were built on broad participation. Narrow recommendations don't just change who gets shots. They change whether the shots will be available and affordable when you need them.

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  Alex8h ago

  The pharmacy worker who mentioned the asthma question — YES. I called about exactly that. Mild intermittent asthma that I use an inhaler for maybe twice a year. Am I eligible or not? The nurse line told me yes, the CVS website told me to consult my doctor, my doctor's office said they weren't sure the updated shot was even in yet. Three contacts, zero answers. I eventually gave up.

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• AS

  Alex S.9h ago

  The person claiming political appetite changed the recommendations owes us some evidence for that. The actual reported reason is that population immunity is now high enough that the risk-benefit calculus shifted for low-risk groups. You can disagree with that conclusion, but calling it purely political is its own kind of spin.

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  Omar4h ago

  The comment about vaccine infrastructure is the most important thing in this thread and everyone just scrolled past it to argue about whether asthma counts. If we let the distribution network atrophy for COVID shots, we will not rebuild it quickly when we need it. We never do.

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  Noah6h ago

  I'm 29 and immunocompromised from a medication I take for an autoimmune disease. Technically I qualify. But my rheumatologist and my GP gave me different advice on timing relative to my infusion schedule and I am sitting here three weeks into this "fall season" with no shot and genuine medical uncertainty. So yes, the confusion is real, it hits the people who most need clarity, and I am extremely tired.

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• Y9

  Yuki 9212h ago

  healthy 34 year old here, got it every year since 2021, not getting it this year. not because im anti-vax or whatever, just genuinely dont see the point for someone like me anymore and my doctor didnt push it either. feels weird to say but it actually feels like the right call now?

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• E9

  Elena 923h ago

  That take from the pediatric nurse is interesting but I'd flip it: the families you work with have an ongoing specialist relationship and probably a care coordinator. Most adults navigating this are doing it alone with a GP they see once a year if that. Different circumstances, different outcomes.

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  Leo8h ago

  what bugs me is that nobody is talking about how the RSV guidance just... exists in limbo? Like older adults got that recommendation last year and now there's nothing new? My father-in-law's pulmonologist doesn't know what to tell him. That's a real gap someone should be filling in this thread.

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• LB

  Liam B.10h ago

  I mean, I got COVID twice while vaccinated. I'm not saying it didn't help, I genuinely don't know. But at some point I stopped feeling like the recommendations were being made for people like me and started feeling like they were made for liability reasons on both ends.

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  Nina2h ago

  I genuinely cannot tell if this thread is about public health or about who was right during the pandemic. Probably both. Probably that's the problem.

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  Morgan T.6h ago

  As a vet I find the whole eligibility debate kind of surreal. We just got told what shots to get and when to get them. Didn't ask questions. Now I watch civilians argue about whether they're allowed to get a vaccine and I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

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  Theo9h ago

  I have a 4-year-old with a heart condition. We will be getting every available shot on schedule. Every year. Full stop. I don't have patience for the "it's all so confusing" crowd when my kid's cardiologist is not confused at all.

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• T9

  Taylor 924h ago

  to the person asking about pharmacy stock — CVS had it in my area as of last Thursday. Walgreens was showing availability online but they told me when I arrived that the specific updated formulation wasn't there yet. Call ahead.

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• T_

  Taylor _x11h ago

  to the person who said "opting out by confusion not by choice" — that is genuinely the most accurate description of what I'm watching happen in my friend group right now. nobody decided not to get it. they just never got around to figuring out if they should.

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  Taylor3h ago

  I'm 66. My doctor said get it. I trust my doctor. I'm getting it. I don't know why this requires a 38-comment thread.

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  Elena7h ago

  honestly the flu shot question is weirder to me. "last year's guidance still stands" is such a nothing sentence. the flu strain composition changes literally every year. how does last year's guidance still stand for this year's shot?

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  Drew6h ago

  the person above who said "opting out by confusion not by choice" — I want to push back slightly. Confusion is a choice in the sense that you can resolve it by making a phone call. I know that sounds harsh but the information is out there.

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• M9

  Marco 924h ago

  I had COVID really badly in 2022. Long symptoms for about six months. I will be getting the updated shot regardless of whether any official guidance tells me to. That experience changed my personal calculus permanently and no recommendation change moves that needle.

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  Alex _x10h ago

  retired RN here. thirty years in ICUs. the guidance is muddled because the virus is muddled. people want a clean answer and public health can't always give you one. that doesn't mean the system failed.

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• QB

  Quinn B.3h ago

  I've been a pediatric nurse for eighteen years. The kids with underlying conditions whose families I work with are not confused. Their doctors communicate clearly and their parents follow through. The "confusion" narrative mostly describes adults making decisions for themselves who are looking for permission to skip it and calling the absence of that permission a messaging failure.

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  Leo12h ago

  Nope.

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• QB

  Quinn B.7h ago

  to the person asking about asthma and eligibility — mild intermittent asthma is listed under the CDC's higher-risk conditions. you're eligible. not a doctor, just someone who spent 45 minutes on the CDC site last week because I have the same question.

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• JK

  Jamie K.2h ago

  the infrastructure point deserves way more attention than it's getting here. once you lose that capacity it doesn't come back fast. we learned that lesson in 2020 going the other direction and somehow nobody wants to apply it.

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  Iris5h ago

  my entire family is getting it. husband, me, our three kids who all qualify under underlying conditions. the debate on this forum is not the debate happening in my house.

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  Iris8h ago

  same as the person who changed their mind — I had the exact opposite journey. Used to think annual shots were overkill. Now my dad is on oxygen after a bad COVID infection last winter and I will never again assume a healthy-looking person doesn't need the protection.

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  Feli2h ago

  Getting mine next week. Already have the appointment. End of story for me personally, though I understand why others land differently.

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  Jamie 2111h ago

  my mom is 71 and still doesn't know if she needs it this year or not. called her doctor's office twice. got two different answers.

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  Drew4h ago

  does anyone know if Walgreens or CVS is actually stocking it yet? asking practically

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  Jordan10h ago

  Nope. Not even close.

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  Alex8h ago

  got mine scheduled already lol

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