By By Tom Corwin

Copyright postandcourier

It’s the time of year people prepare to get their seasonal flu vaccination and for the last few years many have also included a COVID-19 vaccine shot. But under the new Trump administration and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., it has remained murky as to whether a COVID shot would be available and who should get it.

An advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is meeting Sept. 18-19 to make recommendations on the COVID shot, among others. Ahead of that, a South Carolina board is allowing pharmacists and others to administer the shots without a prescription and allows them to look at broader recommendations of who should get it.

Here are the issues.

There is confusion about getting COVID shots, but flu advice remains the same.

“Flu is pretty much set,” said Dr. Robert Oliverio, chief medical officer for ambulatory care and population health at Roper St. Francis Healthcare System, and a practicing primary care physician. “Folks six months and up should get a flu shot in preparation for the 2026-2026 flu season.” But many people also preferred to get the COVID shot at the same visit, because they get a shot in each arm. That’s where the confusion has come in, and there has been differing messages from HHS and from the Food and Drug Administration, Oliverio said.

Older adults will probably have access to COVID shots

Pfizer and BioNTech announced their 2025-26 COVID shot had been approved by the FDA for those ages 65 and older and anyone five and older with a condition that puts them at higher risk of complications from a COVID infection. That includes asthma and other chronic lung diseases, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and many others.