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SUMMARY
Many Americans who want to get the newest COVID vaccines may now have a harder time doing so. The Food and Drug Administration limited approval for the shots to adults 65 and older or those who are "high risk" for severe disease. The vaccine was previously available to individuals six months of age and older. Amna Nawaz discussed the changes with Dr. Katelyn Jetelina of Your Local Epidemiologist.
View the transcript of the story.
News alternative: Check out recent segments from the NewsHour, and choose the story you’re most interested in watching. You can make a Google doc copy of discussion questions that work for any of the stories here.
key terms
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — the federal agency that regulates the use and sale of pharmaceuticals and medicines in the United States
WARM-UP QUESTIONS
- Why has the federal government issued new rules about COVID vaccines?
- Who is Katelyn Jetelina, and what is her background?
- What are some of the conditions that qualify adults for COVID vaccines, according to the new FDA rules?
- Where are 90% of vaccines given, according to Jetelina?
- How have some pediatricians and other doctors disagreed with the FDA rules?
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
- Do you think local or federal officials should still be working to limit the spread of COVID? If so, what do you think they should be doing?
- How do you think the goals and strategies of public health officials are different now than they were when the COVID pandemic began?
Media literacy: Who do you think might be most impacted by the new FDA rules on vaccine access? Who could you interview to find out?
NEWS: THEN & NOW
Then:
In 1918, a global influenza pandemic, called the "Spanish Flu," spread across much of the world. The flu spread first among soldiers fighting in World War I before infecting communities across the globe.
Emergency hospital during influenza epidemic, Camp Funston, Kansas. Date: circa 1918 Photo ID: NCP 1603 Source Collection: OHA 250: New Contributed Photographs Collection, Otis Historical Archives, National Museum of Health and Medicine.
The Spanish Flu killed an estimated 50 million worldwide, including nearly 700,000 in the United States. At the time, little was known about viruses or the cause of flu. Though vaccines, or inoculations, were already being used to prevent some diseases, there was no vaccine available for most people for the Spanish Flu.
Still, officials debated how to control the spread of the disease through public health measures, including quarantines and mask wearing.
Precautions taken in Seattle, Wash., during the Spanish Influenza Epidemic would not permit anyone to ride on the street cars without wearing a mask. 260,000 of these were made by the Seattle Chapter of the Red Cross which consisted of 120 workers, in three days (detail), ca. 1918-1919.
While doctors and public health officials struggled to contain the flu, some took advantage of public fears by marketing unproven treatments. One advertising campaign that ran in papers across the U.S. falsely suggested that visiting a chiropractor (an alternative medicine practitioner that treats spinal alignment) could prevent dying from the flu.
Omaha daily bee (Omaha [Neb.]), October 6, 1918. Courtesy of Chronicling America/Library of Congress
Now:
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gestures as he delivers remarks next to U.S. President Donald Trump in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 31, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura/File Photo
Robert Kennedy, Jr. was appointed to the head of Health and Human Services (HHS), and immediately promised to review the safety of vaccines, including the COVID vaccine. In August 2025, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA, a part of HHA) issued guidance limiting COVID vaccines to those at highest risk.
Free COVID Vaccine, no takers, Mobile Vaccine Clinic, 37-68 90th Street, Queens, March 26, 2022.
Public officials and doctors knew more about how to treat and prevent viruses during the COVID pandemic than the Spanish Flu. Still, all viruses behave differently and doctors had to quickly determine the best ways to prevent the spread of COVID without fully understanding how it spread. The COVID vaccine was developed in record time and helped to prevent the spread and worst effects of the disease for many.
Watch the video below about the the rollout of the vaccine in December 2020.
Discussion questions:
- What differences and similarities do you think there might have been between the responses to the Spanish Flu and the COVID pandemic?
- What lessons from the Spanish Flu and COVID pandemics do you think public health officials will use to better address a future pandemic?
For more on the development of vaccines and public health, see our Science & Technology case study on Journalism in Action!
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