Getting a fall COVID booster will likely be harder this year. What to know
Stopping by at a pharmacy to get a COVID-19 booster shot this fall may be different, and more difficult, than previous years after changes to vaccine recommendations become more vague.
The most recent round of booster shots was approved by the Food and Drug Administration on Aug. 27 but with new restrictions, including the removal of emergency use authorizations left over from the Biden administration.
The approvals have changed to only include Americans over the age of 65 or those with existing or compounding health conditions. This is a change from last year when they were approved for anyone over the age of 6 months. The change explicitly excludes children after Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. raised concerns about the shot in young and pregnant people back in May.
Kennedy specified in a post on X that the shots would be “available for all patients who choose them after consulting with their doctors,” though that may be easier said than done.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine panel, with new members appointed by Kennedy, met on Sept. 18 and 19 and left the recommendation for a COVID-19 shot to “individual decision-making” rather than recommending the shot for anyone over the age of 6 months like years prior.
“Individual decision-making” is defined as “vaccination based on shared clinical decision-making, which references providers including physicians, nurses and pharmacists,” the panel said in a Sept. 19 news release.
Here’s what you need to know.
Are COVID boosters available at pharmacies?
Shot availability appears to be coming down to the specific pharmacy and state.
Many people who have already tried to get the COVID-19 booster have been denied or told they need a doctor’s prescription, confusing pharmacists and patrons alike, The Associated Press reported.
CVS previously had restrictions on which states had access to the shot, but the company now says it should be available in all 50 states as of Sept. 21, a spokesperson told the outlet.
Walgreens is offering the shot without a prescription in most states, but it is required in Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah and Washington, D.C. Shots should already be available in these states.
Florida is listed as a state “where COVID-19 vaccines will be available at pharmacies as soon as (the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices) issues eligibility guidance,” so the vaccines are likely to roll out to locations there soon.
Individual doctors’ offices should be contacted for their COVID-19 vaccine availability and restrictions.
Are COVID boosters covered by insurance?
The CDC panel decision means COVID-19 booster shots will be covered through “entitlement programs such as the Vaccines for Children Program, Children’s Health Insurance Program, Medicaid, and Medicare, as well as insurance plans through the federal Health Insurance Marketplace,” according to the release.
Whether the shot is covered by private insurance is up to the individual provider and plan.
America’s Health Insurance Plans, the trade group, said Sept. 16 that its health plans would cover all CDC panel recommendations “that were recommended as of September 1, 2025, including updated formulations of the COVID-19 and influenza vaccines, with no cost-sharing for patients through the end of 2026.”
The trade group includes all major insurance providers, with the exception of UnitedHealthcare, and includes plans for individuals and small businesses. Large employers may make their own decision on whether to cover the shot this year, The Associated Press reported.
Which states are making their own recommendations?
Some state public health officials have decided to make their own vaccine recommendations, diverging from the CDC for the first time in its 80-year history.
Officials from California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, New York, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Minnesota, New Jersey, Connecticut, Virginia, Arizona, Nevada, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Rhode Island and Wisconsin have made statements regarding the shot and their response to the changing consistency of CDC recommendations, USA Today reported.
Statements range from issuing blanket prescriptions to executive orders and requiring insurance providers to cover the shot.
This story was originally published September 22, 2025 at 4:39 PM with the headline "Getting a fall COVID booster will likely be harder this year. What to know."
