As Washington state seeks to make COVID-19 vaccines more available, federal guidance continues to lock into place, firmly shifting away from years of recommendations that aimed to boost vaccination levels.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention adopted new guidelines around the updated COVID vaccines last week, choosing to stop encouraging the shots for those 6 months and older. Instead, the CDC urged patients to discuss risks and benefits with a medical provider first, then decide for themselves whether they wanted a vaccine.

“Informed consent is back,” Jim O’Neill, the CDC’s acting director, said in a statement. Health leaders in Washington have said this practice already happens.

The new immunization schedules, which were recommended by the CDC’s vaccine advisory group last m

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