It’s late August, there’s a hurricane coming up the East Coast, schools are starting to open, and no one has any idea who can get an updated Covid-19 shot. The Covid-19 pandemic is over, but the virus persists.

Heading into the respiratory illness season, states and clinicians are working to encourage pregnant patients to get COVID-19 vaccinations, even though the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services no longer recommends that they should.

Coronavirus infections are climbing again, marking another summer wave as children go back to school. But this uptick arrives with an added layer of uncertainty because it’s unclear when and which Americans can receive updated vaccines this fall.

The effect has been to confuse parents about whether vaccines are safe, said Northe Saunders, president of American Families for Vaccines. For now, the federal government hasn’t directly made it harder to get routine shots, though pharmacies and providers may be less likely to stock them if they think patients don’t want them, he said.

Irrespective of guidance by the CDC and Trump administration, the Vaccine Integrity Project analyzed data on vaccine safety, efficacy ahead of the flu season.

U.S. health officials say COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy should be a personal choice. Photo by Alex Hofford/EPA Federal health officials have pulled back a key recommendation that pregnant ...

Indeed, pregnancy was on the list of health conditions that would qualify someone for a COVID-19 vaccination under FDA’s new guidance “framework” announced last week.

According to the CDC, maternal vaccination during pregnancy reduced the risk of COVID-19-related hospitalization by around 54 percent among infants during the first three months of life.

Since 1964, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had regularly reviewed the evidence on the safety and efficacy of fall vaccines and gave the results to its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to make recommendations for the upcoming respiratory virus season.