The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
CDC adds COVID-19 vaccines to standard list
But agency does not set vaccine requirements in schools or workplaces.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has added COVID-19 vaccinations to a list of suggested routine immunizations, but the agency in no way mandates vaccines.
The CDC’S vaccine schedule, released Thursday, does not set requirements for vaccines in schools or in the workplace. For children, state and local jurisdictions decide which immunizations are required for schools and day cares. Medical and religious exemptions to vaccines are also allowed in many states, including Georgia.
The changes in the vaccination schedule were published in the CDC’S Morbidity and Mortality
Weekly Report. They include the addition of COVID-19 primary series and recommendations on booster doses, and updated guidance on several other vaccines, including influenza, pneumococcal and MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccines.
The schedule recommends additional doses of MMR vaccine during a mumps outbreak, and a new section for polio vaccinations outlines “special situations” in which a one-time polio vaccine booster would be recommended for adults who are at increased exposure to the virus.
The most talked-about change is likely to be the addition of COVID19 vaccines to the schedule of routine vaccinations for adults and children as young as 6 months of age. Boosters are also recommended for adults and children.
“This means COVID-19 vaccine is now presented as any other routinely recommended vaccine and is no longer presented in a special ‘call out’ box as in previous years. This, in a sense, helps ‘normalize’ this vaccine and sends a powerful message to both healthcare providers and the general public that everyone ages 6 months and older should stay up to date with recommended COVID-19 vaccines (including a booster, when eligible), just as they would with any other routinely recommended vaccine,” Dr. Neil Murthy and Dr. A. Patricia Wodi said in a statement to CNN.
And while COVID-19 vaccines may be recommended by public health agencies and pediatricians, there are no indications of COVID-19 vaccine requirements gaining steam here in Georgia.
Legislation has been introduced that would permanently ban vaccine requirements for schools and other places in the state. The bill is an update to legislation that passed last year banning COVID-19 vaccine requirementsthatwillexpirejune30.
Georgia’s Senate on Tuesday passed legislation on a party-line vote that would permanently ban any state or local agency, government or school from requiring anyone to get a COVID-19 vaccination. The bill now goes to the House for its consideration.
In Georgia, vaccine uptake has been low, especially among young people, according to the latest data from the CDC.
Only 61% of people in Georgia 5 and older have completed their primary vaccine series. Among school-aged children in Georgia ages 10 to 14, only 44% have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, according to data from the Georgia Department of Public Health. It falls to 25% for children ages 5 to 9. And for children 4 and younger in the state, only about 5% of them have had at least one dose of the vaccine.