If you want an updated COVID-19 vaccine, pharmacies in Virginia may now administer it to anyone age 3 or older without a prescription, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its vaccine recommendations.
The Virginia Department of Health is revoking its order issued on Sept. 10, as it is no longer necessary. The order allowed pharmacists to continue to administer the vaccine in the Commonwealth until the CDC updated its guidance.
The CDC schedule now advises “individual-based decision making” for ages 6 months and older for anyone wanting the 2025-26 COVID-19 vaccine.
For children under the age of 3, a vaccine must be administered by a health care provider.
The chaos came after the Food and Drug Administration revoked the emergency-use authorization for COVID-19 vaccines that allowed patients to walk in and receive the shot without a doctor’s prescription.
For a short time, some pharmacies halted administering the vaccine even with a valid prescription. The VDH order allowed pharmacies to resume administering the vaccine.
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Dangerous anti-vaccine rhetoric is being pushed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., even as it emerged on Friday that Donald Trump, who underwent his second annual physical in the past six months on Friday, had gotten vaccines for both the flu and COVID during the visit.
Some states are actively working to phase out vaccine mandates; the move has been widely criticized by physicians and medical leaders who have called it both insane and stupid.
In Virginia, vaccinations are required for polio, measles, chickenpox and Hepatitis B at most schools.
MMRV guidance updated for children under age 4
An update was also made to the VDH immunization schedule for the combined measles, mumps, rubella and varicella, or MMRV, vaccine.
The CDC no longer recommends the use of the combined MMRV vaccine for children under the age of 4, regardless of parental preference. This is already consistent with common practice in Virginia, according to the VDH.
Children under the age of 4 should receive MMR and varicella vaccines separately. The first dose of each of these vaccines is recommended to be given at 12 to 15 months of age.
The CDC recommendation for the second dose of the MMR and varicella vaccines has not changed. The second dose for each of these vaccines is recommended at 4 to 6 years of age.
Children ages 4 years and older can receive either the combined MMRV vaccine or MMR and varicella vaccines separately.
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Crystal Graham
