President Donald Trump received a COVID-19 booster shot and flu vaccination on Friday, October 10, 2025, during a medical visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center—a development that has drawn sharp attention given his administration’s simultaneous efforts to restrict vaccine access under the leadership of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic.
The 79-year-old president’s immunizations were disclosed in a one-page memo from White House physician Dr. Sean Barbabella, who described the visit as a scheduled follow-up evaluation that was part of Trump’s ongoing health maintenance plan. The physician characterized Trump as being in exceptional health, noting that advanced imaging, laboratory testing and preventive health assessments were conducted by a multidisciplinary team of specialists.
Barbabella indicated the vaccinations were administered in preparation for upcoming international travel, when Trump was about to depart for the Middle East on Sunday, October 12, following his role in securing a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. The physician’s letter stated that Trump “remains in exceptional health, exhibiting strong cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurological, and physical performance.”
The timing of Trump’s vaccination raises pointed questions about the disconnect between the president’s personal health decisions and his administration’s public health policies. Kennedy, who leads the Department of Health and Human Services, has repeatedly characterized COVID-19 vaccines as dangerous, once calling them the deadliest vaccine ever made. His tenure has been marked by systematic efforts to dismantle vaccine infrastructure and recommendations.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its COVID vaccine guidance on the Monday preceding Trump’s immunization, dramatically limiting its recommendation for the shots only to people 65 or older or those with underlying health conditions—and only after consulting with healthcare providers. This policy shift came after Kennedy overhauled the agency’s vaccine advisory panel earlier this year by firing all its members and replacing them with his own appointees.
Former CDC Director Susan Monarez testified during a Senate committee hearing last month that Kennedy pressured her to pre-emptively approve vaccine recommendations from the panel and grew upset when she refused to do so. Her resistance to that pressure preceded her dismissal from the position after just one month in the role.
The revised vaccine guidance has created a complex patchwork of different policies across states, making it significantly harder for Americans to access COVID-19 shots depending on their location. The Food and Drug Administration ended emergency-use authorizations for COVID-19 vaccines in late August, approving Moderna, Pfizer and Novavax immunizations only for people over 65 and those with existing health conditions that place them at high risk.
Trump’s physician noted in the October 10 letter that the president’s cardiac age—a validated measure of cardiovascular vitality determined via electrocardiogram—was found to be approximately 14 years younger than his chronological age. Barbabella described Trump’s laboratory results as outstanding, including stable metabolic, hematologic and cardiac parameters.
The Friday visit marked Trump’s second comprehensive examination at Walter Reed in 2025, coming approximately six months after his previous annual physical exam in April. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had characterized the visit as a routine yearly checkup, despite the president having already undergone such an examination earlier in the year.
Trump’s medical history includes a July diagnosis of chronic venous insufficiency, a non-life-threatening condition that causes blood to pool in the legs and can result in swelling, pain, skin discoloration and potentially ulcer development. The condition became publicly apparent through visible bruising on the president’s hand and swelling in his lower legs near his ankles. Barbabella’s October letter did not provide an update on this vein condition.
The vaccination disclosure came hours before White House budget director Russell Vought worked with Kennedy to implement significant layoffs at the CDC, terminating over 1,300 viral disease experts and staffers. Approximately half of those layoffs were later reversed, though some 600 CDC workers designated as non-essential remained terminated.
Trump has maintained a different stance on vaccines than his health secretary, previously stating that Kennedy has views that differ from his own and other medical experts. In September, the president joked that he hoped he had not contracted COVID-19 after Kennedy sneezed near him in the Oval Office.
During his first presidency, Trump spearheaded Operation Warp Speed, which accelerated COVID-19 vaccine development and distribution to Americans with unprecedented speed. That initiative stands in contrast to the current administration’s approach under Kennedy’s leadership, which has focused on restricting vaccine access and questioning the safety and efficacy of immunizations that medical evidence has repeatedly demonstrated to be safe and effective.
