CDC advisers unanimously approve COVID-19 vaccines on childhood, adult immunization schedules

The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices unanimously approved the addition of COVID-19 vaccines to the routine immunization schedules for children, adolescents and adults at its meeting Thursday.

The child and adolescent schedule recommends up to four doses of COVID vaccines, including those still under emergency use authorization, starting at 6 months old. It includes a two- or three-dose primary series and a booster. The adult schedule, starting at age 19, is the same.

Adding COVID vaccines to the routine schedules will trigger laws in some states that require school districts to enforce the schedule on schoolchildren. More than half the states referenced ACIP recommendations in their immunization laws as of January 2021.

Critics of the recommendations are pushing back on the data cited by the advisors to justify amending the schedule.