New CDC Director Predicts Annual COVID Shots

Far from being a thing of the past, COVID vaccines may become an annual inoculation for Americans much in the way of the flu shot.

That’s the word from Dr. Mandy Cohen, the new Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Asked by Spectrum News whether Americans should expect to roll up their sleeves and take the vaccine once a year, Cohen’s reply was telling.

She explained that “we’re just on the precipice of that so I don’t want to get ahead of where our scientists are here and doing that evaluation work, but yes, we anticipate that COVID will become similar to flu shots.”

Cohen emphasized that it’s the direction the CDC is headed into, though “we’re not quite there yet.”

In other words, the controversial vaccine that many Americans already resisted is likely to be a yearly requirement for many. And the date projected for that official guidance is looming large.

The new CDC director said that final word is expected to be released by early or mid-September. It would be the first from the agency concerning long-term protection from COVID.

Apparently, the controversial COVID vaccine is becoming institutionalized.

The CDC, of course, is no stranger to controversy. Public trust sank sharply in the wake of numerous perceived missteps during the pandemic.

The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found in a survey that approximately a quarter of Americans have little or no trust in the CDC. A full 10% said they do not trust the agency at all.

An NBC News poll taken in 2022 revealed that only 44% of Americans trust the CDC, a sharp drop from the 69% at its the onset of the pandemic. 

As then-President Donald Trump fought to gain control of the COVID outbreak, he and his administration criticized the CDC for becoming politicized and moving too slowly. And even Biden administration officials believed the agency did not communicate guidance clearly enough. 

Cohen is the former head of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. She drew criticism for her handling of the Tar Heel State’s pandemic period by only loosely following her own strict guidelines.

She was captured on video frivolously boasting about her implementation of oppressive measures during the height of lockdowns. Critics also pointed to forcing public school students to remain masked indoors despite their vaccination status.