What’s Next for COVID-19 Vaccines?

July 15, 2025

One of the makers of the nation’s COVID-19 vaccine this month received approval for its shot for young children who are at increased risk for severe disease, company officials announced.

Moderna announced last week that it had received supplemental approval for its Spikevax COVID-19 vaccine for children between 6 months and 11 years old who are at increased risk.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Background:  The news comes after FDA leaders earlier this year announced recommendations for the vaccine would narrow to adults over 65 and those six months and older with at least one risk factor for severe illness. The change significantly reduces the number of individuals recommended for the vaccine.
• Rationale:  Federal health leaders said they wanted to avoid a “one-size-fits-all” framework for the vaccine approval.
  • “The FDA will approve vaccines for high-risk persons and, at the same time, demand robust, gold-standard data on persons at low risk,” agency leaders said.
• Timing:  The new vaccines are slated to be available for eligible populations for the 2025-2026 respiratory virus season, company officials said.
• State of the spread:  Most of the publicly available wastewater data for U.S. regions show “low” or “very low” activity for COVID-19.
  • The virus accounted for just 0.4 percent of emergency department visits for the week ending July 5.

HAP continues to monitor the latest public health trends and provide updates to members.