(Editorial - Graphic Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

Despite a delay while unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., argued over messaging and content, the West Virginia Department of Health has finally been able to release its annual respiratory vaccine guidelines for health care providers and patients.

That is a relief to health care professionals who had been worried about having the guidance they needed to properly advise patients about how to stay healthier and safer.

“We have had so much different messaging given to us, much different information. People saying this. People saying that. We didn’t have a set group of guidelines that we could use,” Dr. Michael Kilkenny told WV MetroNews.

Kilkenny, who is the physician director for the Cabell-Huntington Health Department, said the release is about a month behind what is normal.

“The changes that are occurring at the federal level have caused a little bit more disruption in that kind of delivery of the guidance,” he told MetroNews.

But there is still time for patients to get the vaccines they need. The 2025-26 guidance, according to the West Virginia Department of Health, is for seasonal flu vaccines for anyone over six months of age without a contraindication; different respiratory syncytial virus vaccination options during pregnancy and for infants less than 8 months old, compared with options available for adults age 75 and older (or those 50-74 with increased risks); and COVID-19 vaccines to those older than six months “based on shared clinical decision-making.”

In a note from Shannon McBee, state epidemiologist from the state Office of Epidemiology and Prevention Services, the West Virginia Department of Health told its public health partners “COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus vaccines remain the front line of defense and protection against each of the viruses they target.”

Such a reminder is vital in this atmosphere of uncertainty. Talk to your doctors, if necessary, and then get your recommended vaccines. In doing so, you will keep not only yourself, but your families and even communities healthier this season.