No other details were released, and HHS officials did not immediately respond to questions about how the decision was made.

“It’s a dangerous precedent. If you can start doing that with this vaccine, you can start doing that with any vaccine you want – including mumps-measles-rubella,” commented Osterholm, referencing another vaccine about which Kennedy has expressed skepticism.

He and others mentioned that the announcement raises multiple questions, such as whether health insurance companies will continue to cover COVID-19 vaccinations and how difficult it will now be for those who desire the shots to obtain them.

“The reason we give vaccines to healthy people is to keep them safe,” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association.

More than 1.2 million people have died in the US from COVID-19, most of them elderly. But children haven’t been spared: The coronavirus has been the underlying cause in more than 1300 childhood deaths since the pandemic began, according to CDC data.

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr Marty Makary and Dr Jay Bhattacharya, head of the National Institutes of Health, appeared in the video with Kennedy.

Earlier this year, during the nomination process, Kennedy gave assurances to wavering Republicans that he would not alter the federal vaccine schedule.

But since then, Kennedy and other Trump administration appointees have made big changes to the system for approval and use of vaccines.

They added restrictions to a recent vaccine approval. Last week, the FDA announced routine COVID-19 vaccine approvals will be limited to seniors and younger people with underlying medical risks, pending new research for healthy adults and children.

Among the confusion created by Tuesday’s announcement, experts said, was the implication that the coronavirus isn’t dangerous to pregnant women.

During the height of the pandemic, deaths of women during pregnancy or shortly after childbirth soared to their highest level in 50 years. Indeed, pregnancy was on the list of health conditions that would qualify someone for a COVID-19 vaccination under FDA’s new guidance “framework” announced last week.

Vaccination has been recommended for pregnant women, in part, because it’s a way to pass immunity to newborns who are too young for vaccines and are vulnerable to infections.

“To say that they are not at any risk is simply incorrect,” said Dr Sean O’Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Dr Steven Fleischman, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said: “The science has not changed. It is very clear that COVID infection during pregnancy can be catastrophic and lead to major disability, and it can cause devastating consequences for families.”