Major US Medical Groups Recommend COVID, Flu and RSV Vaccines for Fall

"Our organizations continue to recommend that everyone who is eligible receive the COVID vaccine, the influenza vaccine and the RSV vaccine, as appropriate," the groups said in their joint statement. They emphasized that vaccines remain the safest and most effective tool to prevent severe illness, hospitalization and death from respiratory viruses that circulate widely each fall and winter.

Christina Davidson, a physician who has spoken publicly about the changing vaccine environment, said the unified message from medical specialties was intended to cut through confusion. "Pediatricians, ob-gyns, family physicians and infectious disease doctors are all telling patients the same thing: please get vaccinated this fall," she said.

Sarah Nosal, another physician active in the discussion, echoed that view. She said primary-care clinicians have fielded growing questions from patients who are unsure whether federal agencies still endorse the shots. The four societies issued separate but aligned documents so that each specialty could tailor advice to its patient population while reinforcing the same core recommendation.

The Vaccine Integrity Project, a non-governmental initiative that monitors vaccine policy and communication, has also tracked the changes and helped publicize the new guidance. The project noted that the simultaneous release from four major specialty groups is one of the broadest physician-society endorsements of seasonal respiratory vaccines in recent years.

The guidance comes against the backdrop of reports that the Trump administration has taken a more skeptical stance on COVID-19 vaccination and has reshaped some advisory committees. While the medical societies did not name administration officials, they framed their recommendations as a defense of established scientific consensus and of physicians' ability to recommend vaccines independently.

Public-health experts have warned that reduced vaccine uptake could lead to more hospitalizations during the winter respiratory virus season, particularly among adults over 65 and infants. The four organizations urged insurers, employers and pharmacies to make the vaccines broadly accessible and free of out-of-pocket cost for those who want them.

The CDC, which traditionally leads seasonal vaccine messaging, has issued narrower recommendations this year, focusing on older adults and people at higher risk. The medical societies went further, saying healthy children, pregnant people and adults without specific risk factors should also be vaccinated after shared decision-making with their clinician.

The Infectious Diseases Society of America added that annual flu vaccination should remain a routine part of fall preventive care for nearly everyone over six months of age, with rare exceptions for medical contraindications. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists specifically recommended that pregnant patients receive both the flu and COVID vaccines during any trimester and the RSV vaccine if eligible.

For pediatricians, the message was equally direct. The American Academy of Pediatrics urged parents to schedule flu and COVID vaccines as soon as supplies are available and to ask about RSV prevention options for infants and high-risk toddlers.