How Vaccines Are Unfolding

I wanted to follow up yesterday’s update with more intel/info as it has come in.  August 27, 2025 was a big, horrible day for public health and another direct contradiction to the notion that we are a “free” country.

1. Trump appointed CDC director says she won’t sign off on RFK Jr’s “unscientific, reckless directives”. He essentially fires her, but not in the correct manner, and she refuses to resign.  Trump admin fires her today.

2. Three other top CDC folks resign in response.

3. FDA approves all new COVID-19 vaccines but restricts their use.  Only high risk patients are now eligible: 65+ or 6m-64y with at least 1 condition that qualifies you as high risk for severe COVID.

It should be noted that healthcare professionals exposed to the sickest patients who do not otherwise qualify as above will NOT be eligible.  Neither will caregivers of patients who may be high risk.

Meaning me.  I can’t get the vaccine, technically. More on that later.

4. Vendors are starting to ramp up shipment to specific states.  We got notice our order is being processed (unlike many peers in other states) and we’ll be notified of shipment.  Meaning it’s imminently arriving!  This is good.  But not really…

5. We practitioners are looking around like the John Travolta/Pulp Fiction meme as we still (probably) cannot give these vaccines.

The reason? ACIP (CDC) usually meets in June to set the guidelines of who should actually get these vaccines.  The meeting has been delayed until September 15th (or 17th, or 18th), meaning many patients WON’T get COVID vaccines until then or after.

In NY, we can administer FDA approved vaccines. There is currently a little confusion and quite a large discussion about whether it is REQUIRED for us to have ACIP involved at all, or if our protocols with our medical director (that usually follow most recent guidance) are good enough.

On top of this, ACIP (CDC) may screw us all at RFK Jr’s command.  They could, technically, ban COVID vaccines or further restrict their eligibility.

My thoughts:

I’m giving this vaccine once received.  I think the right people will have my back, even if it is a little gray right now. I believe states will stand up against this insanity.

We are giving this vaccine IF IT IS COVERED.  Insurances may change coverage based on eligibility and generally not spending money on actual healthcare (just CEO yachts etc).  Coverage is the big question on providers’ minds.

I am taking this vaccine.  I’m looking through my medical history THOROUGHLY to determine how I qualify.  Probably from my BMI, my arrhythmia, or I’ll take up smoking. I encourage all folks to do the same.

We will require SELF-ATTESTATION, meaning you check a box for the reason you qualify and sign saying that that reason is true.  No one is going to police this, certainly not me.  I don’t want to fight anyone 18+ that needs this vaccine.

This is too much, emotionally. Read on.

The anxiety level around COVID vaccine release has been nonstop since 2021.  EVERY. SINGLE. STEP has been confusion, chaos, anxiety, worry, and tension.

We now finally get to a point where we can inject some normality, and even during the Biden administration we have an approval cycle that is less than ideal and creates similar, albeit WAY less, tension. It hadn’t gone away as I wish it would, but it got better and better as it went.

Now, we’ve reverted back to 2020: we don’t even know if people who need it CAN get one, and people who want/need one will be tearing and clawing to get one.

Here’s the point:

• The Trump administration is injecting havoc at an insane level, upending generations of convention and generally smooth, boring processes
• The Trump administration is making claims about COVID, vaccines, and health that are in direct conflict with long established science, and they’re weaponizing cynicism and distrust while spreading misinformation as if it were gospel.  Mr. Potato Head with mashed potato brains uses tanning booths and takes away YOUR choices.
• The idea that I cannot get vaccinated despite being the people pushed to the front of the line in 2021 SO WE COULD THEN IMMUNIZE 90% OF THE COUNTRY AND ESSENTIALLY END THE EMERGENCY PHASE is wild
• The Trump Administration is, again, removing patient choice and not only actual freedoms, but our sense of justice and freedom. More hits to the culture.
• People in my community WILL be sicker. Hospital systems in my community WILL suffer.

What do you do:

1. Be patient. Please. I will have the vaccine and I will give to everyone who qualifies (and we’ll help make sure people who need it get it).  We will do it fast and the process will be simple for you
2. Hang tight.  This will become clearer over the next few days as everyone is really scrambling to put these fires out.
3. Read this for more.