Annual COVID Shots Expected, Much Like Flu Shots, Says New CDC Director

In an interview with Spectrum News, the new Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Mandy Cohen, announced that her agency anticipates the COVID-19 vaccine becoming an annual vaccination, much like the flu shot.

The CDC is finalizing a new recommendation, expected to be announced in early September, stating that Americans should receive an annual COVID-19 booster to protect against the coronavirus.

“We’re just on the precipice of that, so I don’t want to get ahead of where our scientists are here and doing that evaluation work, but yes we anticipate that COVID will become similar to flu shots, where it is going to be you get your annual flu shot, and you get your annual COVID shot,” Dr. Mandy Cohen told Spectrum News at the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta.

“We’re not quite there yet, but stay tuned,” she added. “I think within the next couple of weeks, month we’re going to hear more from our experts on COVID shots.”

Dr. Cohen expressed concern about parents opting out of vaccinating their children, particularly concerning given her worries about the looming “tripledemic” of COVID-19, influenza, and RSV.

“I’m very worried about parents not vaccinating kids,” Cohen said. “I got my kids vaccinated from the circulating viruses. There’s plenty of other things that are hard as parents that we can’t do. This is one we can do to protect our kids.”

She also admitted that during Walensky’s watch,”folks have been very clear that the CDC did lose trust.”

“There were some early places where the CDC didn’t perform and execute in the way they needed to,” Cohen said, citing people’s vaccine hesitancy.

According to Spectrum News, in her first month as director, Cohen claimed to focus on three key areas: transparency, effective execution, and building relationships with the public, health leaders, and politicians across party lines.

In addition, she responded to the efforts of House Republicans to cut the agency’s funding, particularly regarding climate change initiatives and research.

“Just like we have a military to protect us here and around the world, we need a CDC that can protect us,” she said.

“[When people hear ‘CDC,’ I want them to think of a] trusted partner who’s looking out for me, who’s looking out to protecting my health … good, accurate information that helps me with common sense solutions to protect myself, my family and my community.”

The Gateway Pundit previously reported during Cohen’s tenure as the top health official for North Carolina, she aggressively pushed COVID restrictions and laughed about the impact on Americans.

As NC health director, @DrMandyCohen felt comfortable wielding dictatorial power. Here she laughs about consulting with her counterparts in other states:
When she was like, are you gonna let them have professional football? And I was like, no. And she’s like, OK, neither are we. pic.twitter.com/5Qq4YrGX0S

— Laura Powell (@LauraPowellEsq) June 1, 2023

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