As the fall respiratory season approaches and differing recommendations for children's COVID-19 and flu shots cause confusion, who should be getting vaccinated to protect against illness?

Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory committee, known as the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, voted to change recommendations for the COVID-19 vaccine — and on Oct. 6, they were made official by the CDC's acting director. 

The ACIP has changed in recent months, with all new members picked by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is known for raising doubts about vaccines.

Here's where recommendations currently stand.  

Flu shots

Guidance on the flu shot for kids is consistent across top medical groups: Children 6 months and older are generally advised to get the shot. 

The CDC recommends that  get a flu vaccine every season, with rare exceptions.

The  (AAP) also recommends that everyone 6 months and older without medical contradictions get vaccinated. 

For , flu shots — specifically the injection, not the nasal spray — are also recommended by both the CDC and AAP.

Protecting kids from the flu is important because infections can lead to hospitalizations and sometimes be deadly, the CDC says. During the 2023-24 flu season, for example, the CDC reported  children in the U.S. Most of them were eligible for a vaccine but were not fully vaccinated, the CDC said.

Flu season typically starts in December and peaks in February, so the optimal time to get vaccinated is heading into the season, 
doctors say. It takes  to develop after vaccination.

COVID vaccine

For the COVID-19 vaccine, advice currently varies. 

In the latest updated guidance, the CDC recommends people make individual, informed decisions about COVID-19 vaccination, declining to specifically recommend it. This is a change from previous guidance, since it drops recommendations for even children at high risk.

Previously, the  said parents of healthy children ages 6 months to 17 years old should discuss the benefits with a health care provider and "may receive" it, but the agency . The agency broadly recommended COVID-19 vaccines for moderately or severely immunocompromised children.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, however, recently shared vaccine recommendations that, for the first time in three decades, differ from U.S. government advice. In , the AAP is "strongly recommending" COVID-19 shots for children ages 6 months to 2 years old. For older children, shots are also advised but it's up to parents' discretion, the AAP said.

Other top medical groups have also shared recommendations differing from the CDC's advice. 

For example, the , a medical association representing physicians and scientists who specialize in infectious diseases, recommends the COVID-19 vaccine for everyone ages 6 months and older.

And a group of four West Coast states has joined together to issue recommendations on COVID-19 shots and other vaccines that differ from CDC guidance.  recommends the COVID vaccine for all children 6 months to 23 months old and those 2 to 18 years old with risk factors or who have never been vaccinated.

The announcement was made in September in a joint statement from Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, all Democrats, saying they were putting safety before politics.

In the Northeast, New York and its neighbors created the , with Gov. Kathy Hochul calling it a rebuke to Washington's retreat from science. The voluntary coalition includes New York state, New York City, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

"Every resident will have access to the COVID vaccine, no exceptions," Hochul said in , which advises vaccinations for children 6 months to 18 years old.

Varying advice causing confusion for parents

 — a vaccine researcher at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a former government adviser who has sparred with Kennedy for years — said that with the updated COVID-19 recommendation, "the good news is anyone can get the vaccine." But "the bad news is that no one is encouraged to get it even if you're in a high-risk group," he recently told The Associated Press.

Varying advice has already caused confusion for parents.

Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said he expects confusion around the COVID vaccine due to the panel's recent vote. 

"What I think it means is that people are going to be uncertain whether or not the COVID-19 vaccine is a benefit to them," he told CBS News on Friday. 

Dr. Céline Gounder, CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News, says there's "a lot of noise out there" when it comes to vaccines, but advises parents to "stick the course" and talk to your doctor about making sure children get all their necessary vaccinations.