Grace Abels, PolitiFact and Maria Ramirez Uribe, PolitiFact
“Everybody can get” the covid-19 vaccine.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Sept. 4 in a Senate Finance Committee listening to
When well being secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified earlier than the Senate Finance Committee on Sept. 4, a number of senators criticized him for proscribing the covid-19 photographs after promising in November he wouldn’t “take away anybody’s vaccines.”
“Did you hold up a big sign saying that you were lying when you said that?” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) requested Kennedy.
On Aug. 27, the FDA updated its covid vaccine guidance, limiting the teams of individuals accredited to get the up to date shot to anybody 65 or older and any particular person no less than 6 months outdated who has no less than one underlying well being situation that will increase their danger of a extreme covid an infection.
Kennedy pushed again. “Anybody can get the booster,” he mentioned, later including that “it’s not recommended for healthy people.”
Warren mentioned, “If you don’t recommend, then the consequence of that in many states is that you can’t walk into a pharmacy and get one. It means insurance companies don’t have to cover the $200 or so cost.”
Warren and Kennedy continued to talk over one another, debating the vaccines’ availability.
“It depends on the states,” Kennedy mentioned. “But they can still get it. Everybody can get it. Everybody can get it, senator.”
Asked for proof, the Health and Human Services Department pointed to an Aug. 27 post on the social platform X from Kennedy that mentioned, “These vaccines are available for all patients who choose them after consulting with their doctors.”
Kennedy’s blanket assertion to senators is deceptive and untimely.
Under present steerage, wholesome folks below 65 may want a physician’s prescription to get the shot. If they efficiently get a prescription, they could have to pay out-of-pocket.
Further, whether or not the vaccine is on the market at pharmacies and lined by insurance coverage is essentially depending on a vaccine panel that has to date issued no suggestions.
What was the established order for years — that the majority Americans, no matter age, may simply make an appointment at their native pharmacy for the vaccine at little to no out-of-pocket value — is not assured within the 2025-26 season.
Limited Approval, No Guidance
The FDA’s approval shouldn’t be the one step within the course of of creating vaccines accessible to the general public.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a panel of impartial specialists that guides vaccine coverage, has not voted on or issued present steerage. Typically, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends vaccines based mostly on the panel’s guidance.
And that steerage impacts insurance coverage protection and vaccine entry. Federal regulation requires that the majority medical insurance plans fully cover vaccines really useful by the CDC. Some states additionally require these suggestions earlier than they permit vaccines to be supplied over-the-counter at pharmacies.
On June 9, Kennedy fired all 17 members of the CDC’s immunization advisory committee and replaced some with new members, a lot of whom have expressed anti-vaccine views. CDC Director Susan Monarez was fired Aug. 27 over what Monarez described as a dispute about vaccine policy.
According to the CDC’s web site, the advisory panel is scheduled to meet Sept. 18 to 19.
Access Varies by State
People within the FDA-approved teams ought to be capable of schedule vaccinations as quickly as licensed well being care suppliers obtain provides, probably within the subsequent few weeks.
Even if you’re in these accredited teams, the place you will get a covid shot varies by state. By regulation, pharmacies in sure states gained’t be capable of supply the vaccine or will administer it solely with a physician’s prescription till the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel issues its recommendations.
That means regardless of the FDA having issued its approval for some teams, in 18 states and Washington, D.C., “pharmacists cannot administer it because it isn’t on the CDC immunization schedule yet,” Brigid Groves, the American Pharmacists Association’s vp {of professional} affairs, previously told PolitiFact.
As of Sept. 4, the scheduling apps for Walgreens and CVS notified sufferers in some places that they might not schedule a covid vaccine appointment due to state restrictions, stock, or the necessity for a prescription.
‘Off-Label’ Prescriptions
People not within the FDA’s accredited group usually are not banned from getting a covid vaccine, per se. But accessing the vaccine will probably require navigating limitations.
Doctors can legally prescribe a covid vaccine for individuals who fall outdoors the FDA classes.
That’s true for adults and youngsters — and the follow of prescribing drugs and vaccines for “off-label” use is pretty widespread in pediatrics, William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University Medical Center professor of infectious illnesses, previously told PolitiFact.
That requires making and paying for a physician’s appointment, and discovering a physician keen to prescribe it off-label.
Depending on ACIP’s steerage, pharmacists may be capable of vaccinate folks not in an FDA-approved group by means of a course of known as “shared clinical decision-making.”
That means, for instance, “if you were 52 years old and otherwise healthy, but you nonetheless wanted to get the vaccine, you could discuss that with your doctor — shared clinical decision-making — and you could receive the vaccine,” Schaffner mentioned.
Pharmacists are thought-about clinicians who can conduct shared decision-making, Groves mentioned.
But once more, with out CDC suggestions, “we don’t know if that provision is still there,” Schaffner mentioned.
Waiting on the CDC
Insurance protection for the vaccine remains to be up within the air, too, and can largely depend upon what the CDC recommends.
Insurance protection is extra possible for folks in an FDA-approved class. But, if the CDC suggestions embody giving vaccines to wholesome folks by means of the shared scientific decision-making course of, insurance coverage firms will usually honor that, Schaffner mentioned.
Covid vaccines value about $142, in keeping with the CDC’s price lists. It’s unclear whether or not that might be the out-of-pocket value for sufferers receiving a covid vaccine not lined by insurance coverage.
Our Ruling
Kennedy mentioned “everybody can get” a covid vaccine.
The FDA restricted the teams of individuals eligible for the covid vaccines, which has already diminished the photographs’ drugstore availability in some states. People who usually are not in these teams aren’t banned from getting a shot, however are more likely to face further limitations. For instance, folks might have a physician to prescribe the vaccine “off-label,” making the method more difficult and doubtlessly extra pricey.
Kennedy’s blanket assertion is also untimely.
A CDC vaccine panel has not issued suggestions for the vaccines. The group’s steerage may have an effect on insurance coverage protection and over-the-counter entry.
The assertion accommodates a component of fact — the vaccine has not been banned and a few individuals are accredited to get it. But it ignores important info concerning the limitations others may face in accessing and paying for it. We charge it Mostly False.
PolitiFact workers author Madison Czopek contributed to this report.
Our Sources
Email assertion from the Department of Health and Human Services, Sept. 4, 2025.
PolitiFact, “Can I Get an Updated COVID-19 Vaccine This Year? Is It Available Yet? Will Insurance Cover It?” Aug. 29, 2025.
X post, Aug. 27, 2025.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “ACIP Recommendations,” Aug. 8, 2025.
NBC News, “For Some, Fall Covid Shots May Come With Copays — Or No Coverage at All,” Aug. 21, 2025.
PBS NewsHour, “Can You Get a COVID Shot? Here’s Your Fall Vaccine Guide,” Sept. 3, 2025.
USA Today, “RFK Jr., the CDC and Confusing Vaccine Recommendations. What To Know Right Now,” Sept. 3, 2025.
PolitiFact, “RFK Jr. Fired Everyone on a Key Vaccine Panel. Here’s Who He Replaced Them With,” June 18, 2025.
The Washington Post, “White House Fires CDC Director Who Says RFK Jr. Is ‘Weaponizing Public Health,’” Aug. 28, 2025.
Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy, “CDC Director Fired After She ‘Refused To Rubber-Stamp’ Kennedy’s Vaccine Directives,” Aug. 28, 2025.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “ACIP Meeting Information,” June 18, 2025.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “ACIP Shared Clinical Decision-Making Recommendations,” Jan. 7, 2025.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Current CDC Vaccine Price List, Sept. 1, 2025.
PBS News, “Can You Get a COVID Shot? Here’s Your Fall Vaccine Guide,” Sept. 3, 2025.
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