Kennedy Recklessly Removes COVID-19 Vaccine from Recommended Schedule for Healthy Children and Pregnant People
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. unilaterally removed the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children and pregnant people from the recommended immunization schedule of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Kennedy made the announcement on the social media site X, alongside Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the director of the National Institutes of Health, and Dr. Martin Makary, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. No CDC officials were present. The American Academy of Pediatrics was not consulted.
The CDC, which is currently without an acting director, develops the recommended immunization schedule based on the advice of the expert Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which was already reviewing its COVID-19 guidance. The CDC lists “pregnancy and recent pregnancy” as conditions with evidence of higher risk of “impact on COVID-19 severity.”
Public Citizen Health Research Group Director Dr. Robert Steinbrook issued the following statement:
“Kennedy’s unilateral decision to change the CDC’s recommended immunization schedule for COVID-19 vaccines demonstrates once again why he is completely unqualified to be the HHS Secretary. Just as remarkable is that no one from the CDC was even present at the announcement.
“For the CDC’s immunization schedule to be credible, it must be developed by CDC scientists through the well-established federal consultation process, not single-handedly by the HHS Secretary. In Congressional testimony on May 14, Kennedy said, ‘I don’t think people should be taking medical advice from me.’ Yet two weeks later he is making arbitrary public health decisions, defying norms, and with no accountability.
“Kennedy’s decision to remove COVID-19 vaccines for these groups from the CDC recommended schedule will only confuse health professionals, parents of healthy children, and healthy pregnant people. It may also lead some insurers to stop covering the vaccines for such individuals.”