{"id":15971,"date":"2025-10-10T13:10:03","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T17:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/?page_id=15971"},"modified":"2025-10-10T13:42:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T17:42:00","slug":"virginia-department-of-health-addresses-updates-to-the-cdc-immunization-schedule","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/virginia-department-of-health-addresses-updates-to-the-cdc-immunization-schedule\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginia Department of Health Addresses Updates to the CDC Immunization Schedule"},"content":{"rendered":"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/span><\/b> – October 10, 2025<\/span><\/b>
\nContact:<\/span> Logan Anderson, VDH PIO, <\/span><\/b>logan.anderson@vdh.virginia.gov<\/span><\/b><\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

(<\/span>RICHMOND, Va.<\/span><\/b>) \u2014<\/span> The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) is implementing the newest updates to <\/span>the<\/span> Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) <\/span>immunization schedule<\/span><\/a>. Updates were made to the COVID-19 and the combined measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) vaccine <\/span>recommendations.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

COVID-19 Vaccine<\/span><\/b>: The CDC schedule advises the use of \u201cindividual-based decision making\u201d (or shared clinical decision making) when deciding to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to individuals ages 6 months and older. <\/span>This type of decision-making is informed by a decision process between a patient or parent\/guardian and a health care provider, including pharmacists.<\/span> Now that the CDC has published its immunization schedule and included the 2025-26 COVID-19 vaccine, people ages 6 months and up may receive a COVID-19 vaccine at their healthcare provider; and people ages 3 years and older may receive a COVID-19 vaccine at a pharmacy in Virginia <\/span>without a prescription<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The COVID-19 vaccines are widely available at many pharmacies throughout the Commonwealth; some physicians\u2019 offices also stock the updated 2025-26 COVID-19 vaccine. You may also check with your local health department office; you can find its location by using this <\/span>locator map<\/span><\/a>. Please call ahead to ask if your selected provider setting meets your needs, as different settings may only serve certain age groups or have certain hours for appointments.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

MMRV Vaccine<\/span><\/b>: CDC no longer recommends the use of the combined measles, mumps, rubella and varicella vaccine (MMRV) for children under the age of 4, regardless of parental preference. This is already consistent with common practice in Virginia. Most MMRV vaccines are administered to children 4 years of age and older. Children under the age of 4 should receive MMR and varicella vaccines separately. The first dose of each of these vaccines is recommended to be given at 12 to 15 months of age.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The CDC recommendation for the second dose of the MMR and varicella vaccines has not changed. The second dose for each of these vaccines is recommended at 4 to 6 years of age. Children ages 4 years and older can receive either the combined MMRV vaccine or MMR and varicella vaccines separately.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Standing Order:<\/span><\/b> With the CDC updated schedule now in place, the Virginia State Health Commissioner\u2019s <\/span>Standing Order<\/span><\/a> issued<\/span> on <\/span>September 10, 2025, is no longer necessary and will be revoked, effective October 10, 2025.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The State Health Commissioner issued the standing order to bridge the gap for COVID-19 vaccine access until the CDC\u2019s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommendations were adopted by the CDC on October 7. The standing order ensured that Virginians could access the COVID-19 vaccine uninterrupted, if they so desired.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Additional Tools<\/span><\/b>: VDH has several online tools to look up complete <\/span>immunization records<\/span><\/a>, including the new, customer friendly <\/span>MyIR Portal<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – October 10, 2025 Contact: Logan Anderson, VDH PIO, logan.anderson@vdh.virginia.gov \u00a0 (RICHMOND, Va.) \u2014 The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) is implementing the newest updates to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) immunization schedule. Updates were made to the COVID-19 and the combined measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) vaccine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15971","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nVirginia Department of Health Addresses Updates to the CDC Immunization Schedule - Newsroom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/virginia-department-of-health-addresses-updates-to-the-cdc-immunization-schedule\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Virginia Department of Health Addresses Updates to the CDC Immunization Schedule - Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – October 10, 2025 Contact: Logan Anderson, VDH PIO, logan.anderson@vdh.virginia.gov \u00a0 (RICHMOND, Va.) \u2014 The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) is implementing the newest updates to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) immunization schedule. Updates were made to the COVID-19 and the combined measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) vaccine […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/virginia-department-of-health-addresses-updates-to-the-cdc-immunization-schedule\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-10T17:42:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/virginia-department-of-health-addresses-updates-to-the-cdc-immunization-schedule\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/virginia-department-of-health-addresses-updates-to-the-cdc-immunization-schedule\\\/\",\"name\":\"Virginia Department of Health Addresses Updates to the CDC Immunization Schedule - Newsroom\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-10T17:10:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-10T17:42:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/virginia-department-of-health-addresses-updates-to-the-cdc-immunization-schedule\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/virginia-department-of-health-addresses-updates-to-the-cdc-immunization-schedule\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/virginia-department-of-health-addresses-updates-to-the-cdc-immunization-schedule\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Virginia Department of Health Addresses Updates to the CDC Immunization Schedule\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Newsroom\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Virginia Department of Health Addresses Updates to the CDC Immunization Schedule - Newsroom","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/virginia-department-of-health-addresses-updates-to-the-cdc-immunization-schedule\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Virginia Department of Health Addresses Updates to the CDC Immunization Schedule - Newsroom","og_description":"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – October 10, 2025 Contact: Logan Anderson, VDH PIO, logan.anderson@vdh.virginia.gov \u00a0 (RICHMOND, Va.) \u2014 The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) is implementing the newest updates to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) immunization schedule. Updates were made to the COVID-19 and the combined measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) vaccine […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/virginia-department-of-health-addresses-updates-to-the-cdc-immunization-schedule\/","og_site_name":"Newsroom","article_modified_time":"2025-10-10T17:42:00+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/virginia-department-of-health-addresses-updates-to-the-cdc-immunization-schedule\/","url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/virginia-department-of-health-addresses-updates-to-the-cdc-immunization-schedule\/","name":"Virginia Department of Health Addresses Updates to the CDC Immunization Schedule - Newsroom","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-10-10T17:10:03+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-10T17:42:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/virginia-department-of-health-addresses-updates-to-the-cdc-immunization-schedule\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/virginia-department-of-health-addresses-updates-to-the-cdc-immunization-schedule\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/virginia-department-of-health-addresses-updates-to-the-cdc-immunization-schedule\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Virginia Department of Health Addresses Updates to the CDC Immunization Schedule"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/","name":"Newsroom","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15971"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15976,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15971\/revisions\/15976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}