A CDC panel handpicked by Robert F Kennedy Jr has voted to remove all recommendations for Covid shots. 

Instead, the experts advised Americans to rely on ‘individual decision-making.’ 

The panel voted to withdraw all ‘positive’ recommendations regarding the mRNA Covid vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, which means the CDC will no longer advise US adults to receive these shots.

However, the CDC’s acting director has yet to sign off on the new guidance. 

The 12-member committee, known as the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), stated that adults under 65 should decide individually or consult with a doctor about getting the Covid vaccines.

They highlighted that individuals aged six months to 64 years should also make personal decisions regarding the vaccines but stressed that for people with conditions like asthma or obesity, which make them more vulnerable to severe Covid, the benefits of vaccination surpass the risks.

A spokesperson from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) mentioned that under the Affordable Care Act, federal insurance plans must still cover the vaccines, yet this new guideline might complicate coverage for Americans with private insurance.

This decision follows just days after ACIP’s 8-3 vote stating that children four and under should not be offered the combined measles-mumps-rubella-varicella (MMRV) vaccine anymore.

An image caption notes that the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has voted against all positive recommendations for Covid vaccines, with the panel shown on September 19.

Instead, it said that the children should be given the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) and varicella, or chickenpox, shots separately. Neither shot, however, has had its approval withdrawn. 

It’s unclear if Covid shots will still be covered by most insurance plans, as ACIP recommendations have traditionally influenced what states and private plans cover. 

AHIP, a trade group for insurers, said Tuesday its members would continue to cover all vaccines recommended as of September 1, before the panel made changes, through the end of 2026. 

The group includes insurers like Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Centene, HealthEquity, Cigna and Kaiser Permanente.  

Kennedy removed all 17 members of ACIP in June, claiming: ‘A clean sweep is needed to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science.’

The new group of experts now includes several individuals who, like Kennedy, are known vaccine skeptics.

The move also comes one week after the FDA announced it is examining the rare deaths of 25 young people who died after receiving either their Pfizer of Moderna Covid shots and is seeking data on the safety of the shots in pregnant women. 

Anonymous sources close to the situation said health officials were planning to include claims about the deaths in a presentation to ACIP. 

They said the findings were based on information submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), a voluntary database for reporting jab side-effects.

Patients, doctors, pharmacists and people who see a report on social media are all able to submit a VAERS report and they are unverified. The CDC has emphasized that the database is not designed to assess if a shot was directly responsible for a death or other adverse side effect, as this requires more thorough investigation.

VAERS has received 1,600 reports particularly about myocarditis, inflammation around the heart muscle, being linked to the shots, but federal figures show the side effect is extremely rare and only occurs in one in 125,000 shots. 

ACIP adults should consult individually or with a doctor on receiving Covid vaccines

Dr John Su, Acting Director for the immunization office for the CDC, attends a meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on September 19

ACIP’s new recommendations come amid a period of nationwide division on Covid vaccine recommendations. Florida, for one, has banned all vaccine mandates, while coalitions of democratic states across the west and east coasts have issued their own guidelines. 

Before ACIP shifted the recommendations to ‘individual decision-making,’ recommendations stated the Covid vaccine is available to anyone over 65 or younger people with an underlying condition that would make them more vulnerable to Covid infections, such as asthma or being immunocompromised. 

The CDC dropped the recommendation for children and pregnant women earlier this summer.  

The CDC has acknowledged that myocarditis and pericarditis, inflammation of the sac-like lining surrounding the heart, are known Covid vaccine complications, but has emphasized they are rare and has not provided an exact number of cases.

A recent FDA analysis estimated the conditions occur in one in 125,000 doses of the 2023-2024 shots for children and adults under 65. But for young men under 25, the risk was 19 per 500,000, or the equivalent of one in 250.

With myocarditis, it’s thought that the immune system may register mRNA in Covid vaccines as a threat, leading the immune system to attack itself and cause inflammation of the myocardium, the heart’s muscle.

ACIP emphasized the benefits of Covid shots still outweigh the risks for people with underlying conditions like asthma and obesity (stock image)

The FDA estimates myocarditis and pericarditis occurred in one in 125,000 doses of the 2023-2024 Covid shots. Past studies, as shown above, have estimated a risk of between one in 50,000 and one in 200,000

This same mechanism has been linked to pericarditis, which leads to inflammation of the pericardium, the sac surrounding the heart.

Both conditions have been linked to viruses like the common cold and hepatitis, as well as Covid.

While most cases are mild, in rare instances, myocarditis can damage the heart and make it difficult for it to pump blood, eventually leading to heart failure, heart attack, and stroke.

Currently, there is no conclusive evidence of deaths in the US directly caused by myocarditis from Covid vaccines.