Fall Vaccines

Fall, a.k.a. vaccine season, has arrived. Like so much of 2025 so far, this season promises to be atypical, characterized by disagreement and confusion at the federal level, national debates about established evidence, and state-by-state rules about health service access and availability. From the map above, you can see that North Carolina is one of 10 states where certain age groups need a prescription to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) declined to make recommendations about COVID-19 vaccines at its June meeting. ACIP's next meeting is September 19 and many hope recommendations will emerge promoting equal access to those vaccines.

In the midst of widespread confusion about recommendations and availability, Common Health Coalition has issued recommendations. What is this group? "The Common Health Coalition is uniting America’s leading health care organizations in pursuit of a reimagined health system: one in which the nation’s health care and public health systems work hand in hand."

The Coalition summarized vaccine recommendations from eight medical professional societies including American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Family Physicians, and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (full list here) along with the Vaccine Integrity Project at the University of Minnesota, among others, and produced the graphic above.

The Carrborean visited four pharmacies in Carrboro September 10 to assess vaccine availability and accessibility. You can see differences among these pharmacies in the table below. If there are differences in one small town, what are the implications statewide and nationwide for a public health strategy that depends on widespread service utilization to reduce disease transmission?

The Carrborean will provide updates on this continuing story.