Aid workers say the change is simply not necessary.

the use of COVID shots and raising questions about the broader availability of vaccines. It was released two days ahead of the first meeting of FDA’s outside vaccine experts under Trump.but with major restrictions on who can get it — and Tuesday’s guidance mirrors those restrictions. The approval came after Trump appointees overruled FDA scientists’ earlier plans to approve the shot without restrictions.

A vial of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine rests on a table at an inoculation station in Jackson, Miss., on July 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)A vial of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine rests on a table at an inoculation station in Jackson, Miss., on July 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)Pfizer and Moderna, makers of the most commonly used COVID shots, each said they would continue to work with the agency.

For years, federal health officials have told most Americans to expect annual updates to COVID-19 vaccines, similar to the annual flu shot. Just like with flu vaccines, until now the FDA has approved updated COVID shots so long as they show as much immune protection as the previous year’s version.But FDA’s new guidance appears to be the end of that approach, according to Prasad and

, who co-authored the journal paper and joined the FDA webcast.

Prasad and Makary criticized the U.S.’s “one-size-fits-all,” contrasting it with some European countries that recommend boosters based on age, risk and other factors.One Washington state mother, Natalie, has faced delays in treatment for stage 4 cancer at the National Institutes of Health’s Clinical Center, said Democratic Sen. Patty Murray. The clinical center is the research-only hospital commonly known as the “House of Hope,” but when Murray asked Kennedy to explain how many jobs have been lost there, he could not answer. The president’s budget proposes a nearly $20 billion slash from the NIH.

“You are here to defend cutting the NIH by half,” Murray said. “Do you genuinely believe that won’t result in more stories like Natalie’s?” Kennedy disputed Murray’s account.Democrat Rep. Bonnie Watson-Coleman of New Jersey asked “why, why, why?” Kennedy would lay off nearly all the staff who oversee the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which provides $4.1 billion in heating assistance to needy families. The program is slated to be eliminated from the agency’s budget.

Kennedy said that advocates warned him those cuts “will end up killing people,” but that President Donald Trump believes his energy policy will lower costs. If that doesn’t work, Kennedy said, he would restore funding for the program.Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican of Alaska, said those savings would be realized too late for people in her state.