I'm talking about 2025/2026 rounds, for both COVID and Influenza. The difficulty seemed to occur, in both cases, at the approval point, and as a result of uncooperative and ill informed federal leadership. I do recall there being significantly more strain on the approval process for the influenza vaccines than the COVID vaccines. The FDA refused to meet regarding which strains would be recommended for vaccines formulated for the upcoming season. This is what I recall happening surrounding the manufacturing of influenza vaccines: https://respiratory-therapy.com/disorders-diseases/infectious-diseases/influenza/fda-cdc-cancel-flu-vaccine-advisory-meetings/

With COVID I recall that there was a struggle during the approval process that involved age and comorbidity restrictions, which caused a time of being unsure if that meant we would not be allowed to vaccinate people who were under 65 with no comorbities, if it would require a prescription to do so, if we would need diagnosis codes for said comorbidities to run them through insurance, or if COVID vaccines would now require a prior authorization. Additionally we became very uncertain how much would be manufactured, how much inventory we would be allowed to order and receive, or how many people we would be vaccinating.

(In the end nothing seems to have come from this proposed policy change. We are still slinging COVID shots to anyone who asks for them all day long.)

https://www.contagionlive.com/view/fda-approves-updated-covid-19-vaccines-for-fall-2025-restricts-eligibility-to-high-risk-groups

Simultaneously, a sizeable amount of funding was removed for research and development of mrna vaccines specifically, with the FDA claiming that those vaccines do not protect against the viral strains for which they are administered. (That is entirely false.) This was extremely troubling, and put us in doubt of how many manufacturers would be unable to produce an adequate supply, or if they might be unable to develop anything at all. This felt especially threatening regarding the urgency for producing critical vaccines in a timely manner. How would research and development happen if the funds to do so weren't there? (I still don't know how this part of the conundrum was solved, or if it will only begin to matter in future seasons as companies run out of federal funding.)

https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/hhs-winds-down-mrna-development-under-barda.html

So to clarify what I meant above, it was very tough to get an effective COVID vaccine developed for the year, not because vaccine manufacturers had any problem with knowing how they would formulate them, but because significant funding to do so was removed, and because, at the time, policy regarding administration appeared that it would be restricted.

My understanding is that the influenza vaccine took an incredible amount of bending over backwards to create this time around. Some good people pushed really hard to get around the CDC and FDA conspiratorial network of anti-vaccers.

Forgive me if my explanatiom was garbled, or my communication poor.

Thank you, btw, for doing what you do! Hero really is the correct word for people in your line of work! So many people are not dead today, because they had access to vaccines. Every day I get to help people survive and be healthy necause of what you do. My indusyry leans on yours heavily, and you all are a true pillar of civilized society. There aren't adequate words to describe my level of eternal gratitude, both professionally and personally.