Topline
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention no longer recommends routine Covid-19 vaccines for pregnant women and healthy children, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Tuesday, as Kennedy—a noted vaccine skeptic—and other health officials pushed new federal guidelines in recent weeks.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the change, saying it was based … More
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Key Facts
Kennedy, who appeared with National Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharya and Food and Drug Administration Martin Makary, said in a video posted to X the Covid vaccine was removed from the CDC’s immunization schedule for pregnant women and healthy children.
The CDC, whose website has not been updated with the change, previously recommended Covid vaccines for anyone six months and older, pregnant women and women trying to get pregnant.
Kennedy claimed the Biden administration recommended children receive an additional Covid vaccine “despite the lack of any clinical data to support the repeat booster strategy” among healthy youth.
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices was set to vote on recommendations for the vaccine in June, and the agency’s decision to revoke the advisory follows the FDA adopting a new regulatory framework that would likely narrow recommendations for the shots among people over 65 and those at high risk for severe outcomes.
Surprising Fact
Makary and Vinay Prasad, the FDA’s top vaccine regulator, wrote earlier this month that pregnancy was among the underlying medical conditions that probably required additional vaccine shots because of the increased risks of Covid.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
