During the June 22–23, 2022 meeting, the ACIP voted in favor of a preferential recommendation for certain flu vaccines over others for adults 65 years and older in the United States. ACIP recommends the use of higher-dose flu vaccines (Fluzone High-Dose vaccine and Flublok recombinant vaccine) or adjuvanted flu vaccine (Fluad vaccine) over standard-dose unadjuvanted flu vaccines. If one of these vaccines is not available, a standard-dose flu vaccine should be administered instead.  

ACP’s two video series on YouTube help combat misinformation and educate the public about COVID-19 and vaccinations. These series include: Ask Your Internist, which answers the public's top vaccination-related questions. and Physician to Physician Conversations, which shares practical strategies to help physicians build vaccine confidence and address patient concerns in the age of misinformation.

View new videos about creating a safe space for COVID-19 vaccine conversations with patients and Why Do We need COVID-19 Boosters. Use these videos to help encourage boosters for the immunocompromised and all eligible patients. 

Advisors to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday recommended a change in the design of COVID-19 booster shots this fall in order to combat more recently circulating variants of the coronavirus.

The FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee voted 19-2 that the next wave of COVID booster shots should include a component that targets the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

The FDA plans to decide by early July on what the design of the boosters should be.

FDA scientists at the meeting suggested they preferred vaccines that will target the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants that are currently dominant rather than the BA.1 Omicron variant that led to a massive surge in infections last winter.

Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said the regulator would hope to launch a booster campaign with a retooled vaccine by October.

A Phase 1 clinical trial of a novel influenza vaccine has begun inoculating healthy adult volunteers at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. The placebo-controlled trial will test the safety of a candidate vaccine, BPL-1357, and its ability to prompt immune responses. The vaccine candidate was developed by researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The single-site trial can enroll up to 100 people aged 18 to 55 years and is led by NIAID investigator Matthew J. Memoli, M.D.

“Influenza vaccines that can provide long-lasting protection against a wide range of seasonal influenza viruses, as well as those with pandemic potential, would be invaluable public health tools,” said NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. “The scientific community is making progress on this pressing global health priority. The BPL-1357 candidate influenza vaccine being tested in this clinical trial performed very well in pre-clinical studies, and we look forward to learning how it performs in people.”

Today, CDC continues to lean forward with an aggressive public health response to the monkeypox outbreak by activating its Emergency Operations Center (EOC). This action stands up the CDC’s command center for monitoring and coordinating the emergency response to monkeypox and mobilizing additional CDC personnel and resources. CDC’s activation of the EOC allows the agency to further increase operational support for the response to meet the outbreak’s evolving challenges. It is home to more than 300 CDC staff working in collaboration with local, national, and international response partners on public health challenges. The activation of the EOC will serve to further supplement the ongoing work of CDC staff to respond to this outbreak.

Globally, early data suggest that gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men make up a high number of monkeypox cases. CDC continues to provide guidance and raise awareness among frontline healthcare providers and public health. CDC is also raising awareness of the current situation with the public through its website and social media, in addition to direct partner and community outreach.

More and more of America's teens are getting vaccinated against the human papillomavirus virus (HPV), new research indicates.

Between 2015 and 2020, the study found, the percentage of 13- to 17-year-olds who had gotten at least one dose of the vaccine steadily increased, rising from 56% to just over 75%.

"In addition, the adolescents who completed their HPV vaccination series increased from 40.3% in 2015 to 59.3% in 2020," said lead researcher Dr. Peng-jun Lu, an epidemiologist with the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Atlanta.

Vaccination is a crucial tool for controlling COVID-19, which has caused disproportionately high morbidity and mortality among Black and Latino persons in the US. Vaccination rates among adults in these racial and ethnic groups initially trailed those of Asian and White adults, and uptake in Black adults continues to lag. Possible causes of this gap include worse access, skepticism about vaccine effectiveness or safety, and mistrust.

Primary care physicians (PCPs) may potentially play a key role in enhancing COVID-19 vaccination rates, especially for Black and Latino older adults with vaccine hesitancy, because PCPs are trusted sources of information. However, scant evidence exists about the effectiveness of outreach by PCPs to promote COVID-19 vaccination in these high-risk groups.

Researchers conducted a randomized clinical trial of PCP outreach for COVID-19 vaccination among Black and Latino older adults in a socioeconomically diverse population. This study’s objectives were to evaluate the effects of PCP outreach using electronic secure messages and mailings on COVID-19 vaccination among Black and Latino persons aged 65 years and older and to compare the effects of culturally tailored and standard PCP messages.