RFK Says US Will No Longer Recommend Covid Shot for Healthy Children and Pregnant People

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Tuesday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will cease recommending the Covid-19 vaccine for "healthy children and healthy pregnant women."

As of Tuesday, Covid vaccines for those two groups are no longer a part of the CDC recommended immunization schedule, said Kennedy in a video posted to X. In the video, Kennedy stood between National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Martin Makary.

"We're now one step closer to realizing President [Donald] Trump's promise to make America healthy again," said Kennedy, who has a history of disparaging vaccines and once falsely called the Covid jab the "deadliest vaccine ever made."

"Last year, the Biden administration urged healthy children to get yet another Covid shot, despite the lack of any clinical data to support the repeat booster strategy in children," said Kennedy.

Bhattacharya added: "That ends today. It's common sense and it's good science."

Until the announcement, the CDC had recommended everyone 6 months old and older, including pregnant people, get the vaccine.

According to The Washington Post, the move sidestepped traditional protocol. After a vaccine has the green light from the FDA, it goes to a CDC panel called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices for consideration. That panel then holds hearings to determine who should receive the vaccine, how frequently they should receive it, and when, per the Post. The panel sends it recommendation to the CDC director, who can decide to sign off on it, at which point it becomes official policy.

Information that is still currently on the CDC's website states that pregnant people are at heightened risk if they contract Covid-19.

"If you are pregnant or were recently pregnant, you are more likely to get very sick from Covid-19, compared to those who are not pregnant. Additionally, if you have Covid-19 during pregnancy, you are at increased risk of complications that can affect your pregnancy and your baby from serious illness from Covid-19," the webpage states.

Dr. Denise Jamieson, an adviser to the CDC on vaccines who also serves on the immunization committee of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, also told the New York Times on Tuesday that pregnant people are at heightened risk of becoming severely sickened with Covid.

"With Covid still circulating, pregnant women and their babies who are born too young to be vaccinated are going to be at risk for Covid and for the severe complications," Jamieson told the outlet.

The Times' coverage pointed out that the video did not make it clear whether the vaccine will be offered to children who have never had it before, or whether the states will still be allowed recommend Covid shots.

When it comes to children, Dr. Sean O'Leary, a vaccine expert for the American Academy of Pediatrics, recently told the Times that the hospitalization risk for children who are 6 months old and younger is about the same as the risks faced by people who are ages 65-74, and there is also increased risk of hospitalization for kids up to the age of 2.

Writing on Bluesky, New York Times health journalist Maggie Astor on Tuesday called the move "a huge step" that is "at odds with science showing significant risks for young children and pregnant women—and that directly contradicts the FDA's own publication from last week listing pregnancy as a high-risk condition that would qualify people for this fall's Covid vaccine."

Last week, the FDA announced a plan to restrict access of Covid-19 vaccines. Vinay Prasad, head of the agency's vaccine division, and Makary, the commissioner, wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine that the vaccine "booster" doses that have been available for the last several years to anyone aged 6 months and older carry "uncertain" benefits for much of the population. The officials said they anticipate the next round of shots will be available only for adults over 65 and those with certain medical conditions.

In the article in the New England Journal of Medicine, pregnancy is listed as a risk factor that would make them eligible to receive a vaccine under the new plan.