US medical groups issue vaccine guidance, urge jabs for flu, COVID and RSV

Top medical groups say current evidence shows these vaccines protect against severe illness and death.

A certified medical assistant holds a syringe for a flu vaccine at a clinic in Seattle [File: Lindsey Wasson/AP]

A coalition of leading medical groups in the United States has urged the public to get updated vaccinations for influenza and COVID-19, publishing its own guidance to fill a gap left by shifting advice from the federal government.

The coalition, which includes the American Medical Association (AMA) and American Academy of Pediatrics, issued the vaccine guidance for respiratory illnesses on Wednesday.

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It included the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and varied by age group and other factors, such as pregnancy.

“The latest high-quality scientific evidence found that these immunisations continue to provide meaningful protection against severe illness, hospitalisation and death,” the groups said in a statement.

The coalition said it hoped to ease “confusion and chaos” caused by the absence of updated vaccine recommendations, and noted that recent scientific studies have raised no new health concerns related to vaccines for the viruses.

“Patients need and deserve vaccine recommendations that are clear, credible, and based on the best available scientific evidence, so they can make informed vaccine decisions for themselves and for their families,” AMA president-elect Sandra Fryhofer told a news conference.

She said the coalition’s independent review has been published online so “the public has clear, consistent, science-based guidance even while the federal process is in flux”.

US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F Kennedy Jr delivers remarks while President Donald Trump listens during a news conference to announce an alleged link between autism and childhood vaccines and the use of popular pain medication Tylenol for pregnant women and children, claims which are not backed by decades of science, at the White House [File: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters]

The advice usually comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with help from its independent advisers. But the administration of President Donald Trump, in a sweeping overhaul of vaccine policy, began last year pulling back on some longstanding recommendations for virus protection and routine children’s vaccinations.

These include recommendations for the hepatitis B vaccine for newborns and the COVID-19 vaccine for US residents older than six months.

Medical associations repeatedly vocally opposed steps taken under Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, who is a vaccine sceptic, and said the changes run counter to scientific consensus.

A federal judge has since suspended many of the administration’s measures, ruling in March that the federal government had disregarded science-based methods. That decision has hampered the work of the expert panel advising the CDC on vaccination recommendations.

This year, the federal government has only issued guidance for influenza, or the flu, extending its advice from last year.

The guidance from the medical groups on Wednesday recommended an annual influenza shot for everyone six months and older, as well as updated COVID vaccines for healthy adults, young children and pregnant women. It also advised RSV immunisations for older adults, pregnant women and children younger than eight months.

Influenza had the highest burden of the three during the 2025-2026 respiratory virus season, with about 32 million to 52 million cases, 390,000 hospitalisations and 24,000 deaths in the US, according to CDC estimates.

There were about 4.6 million to 12.9 million COVID cases over the same period, with 140,000 to 240,000 hospitalisations and 15,000 to 42,000 deaths, according to CDC preliminary estimates .

RSV caused an estimated 2.8 million to 5.8 million outpatient visits, 170,000 to 340,000 hospitalisations, and up to 25,000 deaths.

The burden of influenza and COVID declined in the 2025-2026 season compared with the previous year, while RSV activity remained relatively similar.

顶尖医疗机构表示，现有证据表明这些疫苗可以预防重症和死亡。

在西雅图的一家诊所，一名持有执照的医务助理拿着流感疫苗注射器。[图片：Lindsey Wasson/AP]

美国一些领先的医疗团体组成的联盟敦促公众接种最新的流感和新冠肺炎疫苗，并发布了自己的指导意见，以填补联邦政府建议不断变化的空白。

该联盟包括美国医学会 (AMA) 和美国儿科学会，于周三发布了呼吸道疾病疫苗接种指南。

世卫组织总干事警告称，必须加强埃博拉应对措施以遏制刚果民主共和国的疫情爆发（共4条，此为第1条）

美国卫生部门对宾夕法尼亚州麻疹相关死亡人数提出异议（共4个名单中的第2个）

世卫组织总干事称特朗普推动疫苗接种的做法违背了“数十年的证据”，这是4个名单中的第3个。

美国削减援助威胁加纳儿童免疫接种成果（共4项，此为第4项）

其中包括呼吸道合胞病毒（RSV），并且因年龄组和其他因素（如怀孕）而异。

这些团体在一份声明中表示：“最新的高质量科学证据表明，这些免疫接种继续能有效预防重症、住院和死亡。”

该联盟表示，希望缓解因缺乏更新的疫苗建议而造成的“混乱和困惑”，并指出最近的科学研究并未提出与病毒疫苗相关的新的健康问题。

“患者需要并应该获得清晰、可信且基于最佳现有科学证据的疫苗建议，以便他们能够为自己和家人做出明智的疫苗决定，”美国医学会候任主席桑德拉·弗莱霍弗在新闻发布会上表示。

她表示，该联盟的独立审查报告已在网上发布，以便“即使联邦程序处于变化之中，公众也能获得清晰、一致、基于科学的指导”。

美国卫生与公众服务部部长小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪在白宫举行的新闻发布会上发表讲话，总统唐纳德·特朗普在一旁聆听。此次新闻发布会旨在宣布自闭症与儿童疫苗以及孕妇和儿童使用常用止痛药泰诺之间存在所谓的联系，但这些说法缺乏数十年的科学依据。[图片：凯文·拉马克/路透社]

这些建议通常来自美国疾病控制与预防中心（CDC），并由其独立顾问提供协助。但去年，唐纳德·特朗普总统的政府对疫苗政策进行了全面改革，开始撤回一些长期以来关于病毒预防和儿童常规疫苗接种的建议。

其中包括建议新生儿接种乙肝疫苗，以及建议美国六个月以上的居民接种新冠疫苗。

医学协会多次公开反对卫生部长小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪（他是一位疫苗怀疑论者）采取的措施，并表示这些改变违背了科学共识。

此后，一位联邦法官暂停了政府的多项措施，并在3月份裁定联邦政府无视了科学方法。这一裁决阻碍了为美国疾病控制与预防中心（CDC）提供疫苗接种建议的专家小组的工作。

今年，联邦政府只发布了关于流感的指导意见，延续了去年的建议。

周三，各医疗机构发布的指南建议，所有六个月及以上的人每年都应接种流感疫苗，健康成人、幼儿和孕妇也应接种最新的新冠疫苗。指南还建议老年人、孕妇和八个月以下的婴儿接种呼吸道合胞病毒（RSV）疫苗。

根据美国疾病控制与预防中心 (CDC) 的估计，在 2025-2026 年呼吸道病毒流行季，流感是三种病毒中负担最重的，美国约有 3200 万至 5200 万例病例，39 万人住院，2.4 万人死亡。

据美国疾病控制与预防中心初步估计，同期新冠病例约有 460 万至 1290 万例，住院人数约 14 万至 24 万，死亡人数约 1.5 万至 4.2 万。

RSV 导致约 280 万至 580 万人次门诊就诊，17 万至 34 万人次住院治疗，以及多达 2.5 万人死亡。

与上一年相比，2025-2026 年流感和 COVID 的负担有所下降，而 RSV 的活动则保持相对相似。