CDC Recommends Older Adults Recieve Ninth COVID-19 Vaccine Dose

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is now advising people over 65 to receive yet another COVID-19 vaccine dose since the first eight didn’t work.

The agency on Feb. 28 said data continues to show that vaccines protect those most at risk for severe outcomes of COVID-19, so the agency is recommending an additional vaccine dose due to waning protection from the previous dose this same age group received just four months prior.

The recommendation “allows older adults to receive an additional dose of this season’s COVID-19 vaccine to provide added protection,” CDC director Dr. Mandy Cohen said in a statement.

“Most COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations last year were among people 65 years and older. An additional vaccine dose can provide added protection that may have decreased over time for those at highest risk,” Dr. Cohen added.

Since COVID-19 vaccines were initially authorized in December 2020, the CDC has regularly advised Americans to receive additional shots despite saying only one or two doses of a vaccine would be needed to prevent the disease and its transmission.

The current vaccine formulation targets the XBB.1.5 variant and was authorized in the fall of 2023 for ages 5 and up after previous versions failed to work. Yet the XBB.1.5. strain is no longer present in the United States, according to CDC sequencing.

In addition to recommending an additional vaccine dose, the CDC on March 1 released new guidance for COVID-19 to bring a “unified approach” to addressing common respiratory viral illnesses. The agency now recommends treating COVID-19 like the flu and dropped its 5-day isolation requirement.