White House says COVID vaccines likely to become annual shot

The White House this week said that COVID-19 vaccinations will likely become an annual procedure going forward, with the shot taking its place alongside the flu vaccine as a routine part of the healthcare landscape of the United States. 

White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Ashish Jha said at a White House press conference on Tuesday that "barring any new variant curveballs ... for a large majority of Americans, we are moving to a point where a single annual COVID shot should provide a high degree of protection against serious illness all year."  

Jha called the development "an important milestone," though he added that high-risk individuals "may need more than annual protection."

The doctor noted that officials were expecting "millions of people to get the shot this month as folks get back to school, get back to work, and get back into their regular routines after the summer."

"And as the annual flu vaccination campaign kicks into high gear later this month and into early October, we expect millions will choose to get their COVID-19 shot at the same time, or over the course of the fall when people go in for routine checkups," he added.