Here are your COVID vaccine questions answered
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 3 September 2025
⏱️ 11 minutes
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Summary
The Food and Drug Administration recently approved the next round of COVID-19 vaccines for the fall season, but it significantly changed who can get it.
The move comes amidst a broader effort by the Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to change policy and guidance around many vaccines.
At this point — we’re guessing you have lots of questions about vaccination in general, but especially around COVID shots.
That’s why we asked our NPR listeners to submit their questions about the FDA’s new COVID vaccine guidance.
UCSF infectious disease doctor Dr. Peter Chin-Hong answered your questions.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | One thing certain about the COVID vaccine right now is that everything about it is changing. |
| 0:05.6 | New rules are now causing some confusion over who can and cannot get the updated COVID-19 shot. |
| 0:11.0 | Growing confusion over the COVID vaccine. |
| 0:14.0 | CVS, the nation's largest pharmacy chain, is now limiting access to the vaccine in some states, even as COVID cases rise. |
| 0:21.8 | CBS told us that you do have to have a prescription from your doctor to get the vaccine. |
| 0:26.8 | Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other top Trump administration health officials say |
| 0:31.6 | that at this point in the pandemic, most people have so much immunity, they don't have to keep getting shot after shot after shot. |
| 0:38.8 | So the new updated COVID vaccine shots have so far only been approved for people who are at increased risk of getting really sick from COVID. |
| 0:47.4 | That's been defined as people who are 65 or older or any young people who have other health issues that make COVID especially risky. |
| 0:55.7 | Health experts like Michael Osterholm are concerned. |
| 0:58.6 | These vaccines can save lives. |
| 1:00.5 | We have demonstrated time and time again that they are very important in reducing serious illness, |
| 1:06.2 | hospitalizations, and deaths. |
| 1:07.7 | And that, in the end, is a very, very powerful tool to be used, not to be restricted. |
| 1:13.0 | This is unfortunately another disaster waiting to happen. On Wednesday, California, Oregon, and |
| 1:18.3 | Washington State launched a new West Coast Health Alliance. The goal, the governors of those states |
| 1:23.3 | say, to provide clear and transparent communication about all vaccines. So consider this. |
| 1:29.7 | When it comes to the COVID vaccine, it can be hard to know what to do, especially as the |
| 1:33.7 | guidelines evolve and leadership in public health changes. Coming up, a physician answers |
| 1:38.7 | your questions directly to help you navigate this moment. |
| 1:49.1 | From NPR, I'm Wana Summers. |
| 2:18.9 | It's Consider This from NPR. The changing FDA guidance has probably left many of you with questions about vaccination in general, but especially around COVID shots. So we asked our NPR listeners to submit their questions about the new COVID vaccine guidance. And we called up Dr. Peter Chen Hong to answer those questions. He's an infectious disease expert with the University of California, |
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