Several major medical organizations on Wednesday released vaccine recommendations for the 2026-27 respiratory virus season to fill a gap in immunization guidance left by the federal government.
The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) issued evidence-based guidance on COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza vaccines guided by an independent review by the Vaccine Integrity Project in collaboration with the American Medical Association.
The Vaccine Integrity Project completed an independent, vaccine evidence review that assessed the safety and effectiveness of immunizations against influenza, SARS CoV-2 and RSV. The organization reviewed hundreds of peer-reviewed studies published since August 2025, building on its 2025-26 evidence review of vaccine effectiveness, safety and disease epidemiology data.
Prior to 2025, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) routinely reviewed vaccine data to guide immunization recommendations. That process was disrupted last year when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services abruptly dismissed ACIP’s members and appointed replacements.
In early January, a newly reconstituted ACIP and the CDC issued a major revision to the childhood immunization schedule, narrowing the list of routinely recommended immunizations. They reclassified six major vaccines from "routinely recommended" to shared clinical decision-making status, meaning they were only recommended for children at higher risk or after an individualized clinical consultation, as Fierce Pharma reported.
Major medical groups pushed back on the administration's high-profile changes to vaccine regulations and recommendations. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and other prominent medical organizations filed a lawsuit against HHS to reverse changes to the CDC's childhood vaccine recommendations.
In March, a federal judge in Massachusetts blocked significant parts of the HHS' vaccination agenda, finding that officials acted unlawfully in ushering in certain changes, Fierce Pharma reported.
The CDC's immunization recommendations have been effectively paused for nearly five months, but the White House has pushed forward, issuing a directive in late May that endorsed a decision by HHS to cut down the number of required vaccinations for children, directing federal agencies to align their policies with HHS' assessment. Last month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that calls for reducing the number of required vaccinations for children in a move that backs a revised immunization schedule pushed by HHS.
That breakdown in the federal process has left a vacuum where clinicians, parents and patients don't have clear vaccine advice, medical experts said.
"For more than 60 years, the United States has benefited from an established federal process for evaluating vaccine evidence and translating that science into recommendations for the American public. At the center of that process were the Centers for Disease Control and its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the ACIP. That system was not perfect, and no scientific process is. But at its best, ACIP brought together leading experts, supported by career CDC scientists, to systematically examine vaccine safety, effectiveness and disease epidemiology. Its deliberations were conducted publicly, and its recommendations gave clinicians and patients a common source of evidence-based guidance," Bruce Gelin, Ph.D., Vaccine Integrity Project Board of Advisors, said during a press briefing on Tuesday.
"Unfortunately, today the federal government is not fulfilling that responsibility in the way that it historically has," Gelin said.
Influenza, COVID and the RSV viruses will circulate again this fall and winter, medical experts said. "Clinicians will still have patients to care for. Parents will still have decisions to make for their children. And older Americans, pregnant women and people with underlying health conditions will still need to know how best to protect themselves. We cannot allow the breakdown of the federal process to create a vacuum in evidence-based vaccine guidance," Gelin said Tuesday.
The Vaccine Integrity Project began working with the AMA and leading medical societies and public health organizations to identify the questions that clinicians need answered about respiratory virus vaccines.
The Vaccine Integrity Project is an independent initiative created by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota. It provides transparent, science-based reviews of vaccine safety and effectiveness.
"The Vaccine Integrity Project independently evaluated the evidence and addressed the questions that clinicians had, but it's the medical societies that use this evidence to help to help make recommendations for their members and their patients. And as an independent organization, the Vaccine Integrity Project's role is not to defend vaccines or to reach a predetermined conclusion. Our job was simply to ask questions, systematically examine the available evidence and report what that evidence shows," Gelin said.
"Americans are hearing conflicting messages about vaccines right now, and it's understandable that people are asking whom they should trust. I would encourage them to look at the process behind the development of these recommendations. Was the evidence of high quality, and was it systematically reviewed? Were qualified experts involved? Were both the benefits and risks examined? Were the methods transparent, and can the public see it for themselves?," he said.
He added, "Ultimately, our goal is straightforward: Americans should have access to the best available scientific evidence and recommendations from the physicians and medical experts who care for them, so they can make informed decisions about vaccination. Whatever happens to the federal vaccine policy process, we cannot lower that scientific standard."
Here are the immunization recommendations from AAFP, AAP, ACOG and IDSA. A one-page summary can also be found here (PDF):
AMA President-elect Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, M.D. said physicians need evidence-based vaccine guidance they can trust, so they can confidently advise their patients, while patients need vaccine recommendations that are clear, credible and based on the best available scientific evidence.
"For decades, physicians like me have relied on federal vaccine recommendations because they were based on science and careful review. And as AMA's liaison to ACIP for many years, I saw this diligence firsthand, but with the massive changes at the federal level, trust is waning," Fryhofer told reporters on Tuesday. "For example, changes to the childhood schedule by the administration over the last year were made without any new scientific evidence, and that's created confusion for both physicians and our patients."
The AMA helped the Vaccine Integrity Project convene monthly scientific meetings with leading medical specialty societies and public health groups to systematically review the latest evidence. Over the summer, the AMA conducted a physician's need assessment and had dialogs with patient focus groups, Fryhofer said.
"All of this was done to help us better understand the kind of vaccine-related resources that would be most relevant to them and best support them. And here's what we found: Physicians prefer education materials that are concise, such as clinical guidelines. Physicians also like one-page summaries. The focus groups reveal patients evaluate information on immunization recommendation based on three factors: consistency across multiple sources, credentials of the source, and the authenticity of the information being shared" she said.
Patients are looking for balanced content that presents both the risks and benefits of vaccines, and they want this content to come from credible experts, including physicians and medical societies, Fryhofer noted.
Public health groups and payers also want one centralized place for vaccine recommendations. To that end, AMA launched SpreadTheFacts.org, a digital resource hub that will contain immunization materials for both clinicians and for patients. It's designed to make information accessible and actionable for healthcare professionals and for the public, and patients can use the site to help inform their vaccination decisions about the three leading causes of serious respiratory virus-related illnesses, according to the AMA.