Key points
- The CDC adult schedule is United States only, 2025: influenza every year, COVID-19 at least 1 dose (65+: at least 2), Tdap/Td booster every 10 years (CDC, 2 July 2025).
- Shingles vaccine: 2 doses from age 50. RSV: age 75 and over, and 50–74 at increased risk. Hepatitis B: all adults through age 59.
- WHO is global; CDC is the United States. They differ because national schedules are built from local disease patterns, resources and policy.
- Court-stay note: later 2025 ACIP votes and a January 2026 CDC memo were stayed by a preliminary court order of 16 March 2026, so the 2 July 2025 schedule posted is the current CDC schedule.
Direct answer: The CDC adult schedule is the United States schedule for 2025: influenza every year for all adults, COVID-19 at least 1 dose (at least 2 at age 65+), a Tdap/Td booster every 10 years, shingles from age 50, RSV at 75+ and for 50–74 at increased risk, and hepatitis B through age 59. It differs from the WHO global schedule because WHO is global and CDC is American — and because the US schedule is currently governed by a court stay explained below.
What the CDC adult schedule lists (United States, 2025)
The source is CDC’s “Recommended Immunizations for Adults Aged 19 Years and Older, United States, 2025”, dated 2 July 2025 and re-checked at build time on 7 November 2026. The table below is an awareness summary of what it lists, by age — not a personal schedule, and not dosage or administration detail.
| Vaccine | What the CDC schedule lists (US, 2025) |
|---|---|
| Influenza | Every year, all adults |
| COVID-19 | At least 1 dose of the current vaccine; age 65+: at least 2 doses |
| Tdap / Td | Tdap every pregnancy; Td/Tdap booster every 10 years for all adults |
| RSV | If pregnant during RSV season; ages 50–74 at increased risk; age 75 and over |
| MMR | If aged 68 or younger and not immune (catch-up) |
| Varicella (chickenpox) | If US-born and aged 45 or younger and not immune |
| Shingles (RZV) | 2 doses, adults aged 50 and over |
| HPV | Ages 27–45 (shared decision / catch-up) |
| Hepatitis B | Through age 59 (all adults); older by risk |
| Pneumococcal, hepatitis A, meningococcal, Hib, mpox | By age, risk or medical condition — listed as risk-based, not universal by age band |
For children and adolescents, the CDC 2025 schedule lists hepatitis B from birth, DTaP at 2, 4, 6, 15–18 months and 4–6 years, polio across infancy to 4–6 years, MMR at 12–15 months and 4–6 years, Tdap at 11–12 years, HPV in adolescence, and influenza every year from 6 months.
The court-stay note — read this first
The CDC schedules are the fastest-moving source on this site, and the 2025 posting carries a legal notice that must travel with any citation of it. Pursuant to a preliminary order of 16 March 2026 in American Academy of Pediatrics et al. v. Kennedy et al. (D. Mass.), ACIP votes from June, September and December 2025 were stayed, and the Acting CDC Director’s 5 January 2026 decision memo revising the childhood schedule was stayed — so the 2 July 2025 schedule posted is the current CDC schedule by age for health professionals. Separately, secondary reporting says ACIP voted 8–3 on 5 December 2025 to end the universal hepatitis B birth dose, CDC adopted that change on 16 December 2025, and a January 2026 memo cut the childhood list — all of that is contested and stayed in court, and it is not the WHO position. WHO still recommends the hepatitis B birth dose within 24 hours. This page cites the CDC 2025 schedules as “United States, 2025” with this note, never as global, and the CDC pages are re-opened — not re-copied — at every re-check.
How the CDC schedule differs from the WHO schedule
The differences are structural, not a disagreement about the science. WHO’s schedule is a global framework: it lists the vaccines countries should consider and the life stages for them, and each country adapts it. CDC’s schedule is one country’s schedule, written for the United States: it names exact ages (MMR at 12–15 months, Tdap at 11–12 years), exact intervals (Td/Tdap every 10 years), and risk-based rules (hepatitis B through 59, shingles from 50) that reflect US disease patterns, US programme history and US policy. Other countries differ again: the UK regards 5 lifetime tetanus doses as enough for most people, against the US 10-yearly booster. The practical rule is simple and is the same on every page of this site: use the official schedule of the country you live in, linked from the Vaccination Directory, and never present one country’s schedule as another’s.
Frequently asked questions
Does the CDC schedule apply outside the United States?
No. It is the United States schedule only. WHO's global framework and your own country's schedule are different documents — this page never presents CDC content as worldwide.
How often do adults need a tetanus booster?
It differs by country. The CDC schedule says Td/Tdap every 10 years for all adults in the US; the UK, for example, regards 5 lifetime tetanus doses as enough for most people. Check your national schedule.
What is the court-stay note about?
A preliminary order of 16 March 2026 in American Academy of Pediatrics et al. v. Kennedy et al. stayed ACIP votes from June, September and December 2025 and a January 2026 CDC decision memo — so the 2 July 2025 schedule posted is the current CDC schedule.