Overview
- ACOG released its 2026 maternal immunization schedule on June 10 that recommends routine COVID-19, seasonal influenza, RSV and Tdap vaccination for pregnant people.
- Thirteen professional societies including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians endorsed the schedule and ACOG withdrew its liaison role from the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in February 2026 citing threats to scientific integrity.
- The schedule gives specific, product and timing advice: Tdap preferably in early weeks 27 through 36 of each pregnancy, any COVID-19 vaccine at any trimester and as soon as possible, Pfizer’s Abrysvo for RSV as a one-time dose at 32w0d–36w6d during September through January in most continental U.S. areas, and inactivated or recombinant flu vaccine before or during the season.
- ACOG’s RSV guidance allows infant monoclonal antibody as an alternative to maternal vaccination and advises clinicians to follow state or local seasonality rules in places with different RSV timing such as Alaska and tropical jurisdictions.
- The new schedule aims to reduce clinician and patient confusion, may affect uptake of maternal vaccines, and adds pressure to ongoing legal and administrative disputes over federal vaccine policy and ACIP’s authority.