Robert F. Kennedy Jr., serving as the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary, stated in a video posted to X (formerly Twitter) that the COVID-19 vaccine has been removed from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recommended immunization schedule for healthy children and pregnant women. He made this announcement alongside Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who is the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Dr. Martin Makary, the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), reports Forbes.
Recommendation Stopped
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reportedly stopped recommending COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women, according to an announcement by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on May 27. This move, conveyed via a video on his social media account, indicates a significant shift in federal public health guidance.
Previously, the CDC’s website recommended Covid vaccines for anyone six months and older, including pregnant women and women trying to get pregnant. The website also cited studies with hundreds of thousands of participants indicating that Covid vaccination before and during pregnancy was “safe, effective and beneficial” to both the woman and the baby, suggesting it could build antibodies that protect the child.
Kennedy’s announcement contrasts with previous guidelines, which he claimed recommended additional Covid vaccines for children “despite the lack of any clinical data to support the repeat booster strategy” among healthy youth. This decision has drawn criticism, particularly given Kennedy’s past vaccine skepticism, which was a point of contention during his Senate confirmation hearing earlier this year. Some Democratic lawmakers had questioned his previous comments that “no vaccine is safe” and his call in May 2021 to pull authorizations for Covid vaccines.
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices was scheduled to vote on vaccine recommendations in June. This decision to revoke the advisory precedes the FDA’s adoption of a new regulatory framework that is expected to narrow recommendations for the shots, particularly for individuals over 65 and those at high risk for severe outcomes.
The announcement by Kennedy also appears to bypass the traditional, evidence-based process involving the CDC’s advisory committee. Medical experts and professional organizations have expressed concern over this change, emphasizing that the scientific understanding of COVID-19’s risks, especially for pregnant women and newborns, has not changed, and that vaccination remains a crucial protective measure. There are also concerns that removing the recommendation could impact insurance coverage for these groups, potentially creating barriers to access.
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Source: Forbes
