Photo: Getty Images
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted unanimously to recommend adding COVID-19 vaccines to the regular immunization schedule for adults and children.
The committee meets every year to discuss any updates to the immunization schedule.
The recommendation said that all children over six months and adults should get the primary series and any boosters of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The decision on whether to formally adopt the recommendation lies with the CDC. While the agency is expected to add the COVID vaccines to the schedule, it does not mean the vaccine is required on a federal level.
"It's important to note that there are no changes in COVID-19 vaccine policy, and this action would simply help streamline clinical guidance for healthcare providers by including all currently licensed, authorized, and routinely recommended vaccines in one document," a CDC spokesperson told Fox News.
However, many states use the immunization schedule when crafting regulations on which vaccines are required to attend schools. One of the committee members said that those decisions would still remain with local officials.
"Moving COVID-19 to the recommended immunization schedule does not impact what vaccines are required for school entrance, if any," Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said, according to NBC News. "Local control matters. And we honor that the decision around school entrance for vaccines rests where it did before, which is with the state level, the county level, and at the municipal level if it exists at all."
"This discussion does not change that," he added.